ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey announced on Sunday the launch of a new military operation targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in its countryside, state media reported. The "Eren Blockade" autumn winter operation was launched by around 1,600 personnel and is supported by Turkey's advanced arsenal of drones in an effort to remove PKK forces from rural areas of Turkey, state-owned Anadolu Agency said, citing Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. The PKK is a Kurdish armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and has launched repeated operations targeting the group both at home and southwards in Iraq and Syria. The most recent cross-border Turkish assault against the PKK, dubbed Claw-Lock, targets the armed group's presence in the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province. The operation has been condemned by Iraqi officials, who labeled it as a "hostile" and "provocative" violation of the country's sovereignty. Despite Ankara's denial, its assaults have previously led to civilian casualties who are often caught in the crossfire. The People's Defense Forces (HPG), PKK's armed wing, said on Sunday that two of its fighters, including a commander, were killed by Turkish air bombardment in a bordering area in the Kurdistan Region, reported PKK-affiliated Firat news agency (ANF). The HPG on Sunday also confirmed the deaths of five of their fighters in a drone attack in Erbil's Balisan Valley on September 5.
