Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced on Friday evening that “33 thousand terrorists” have been “neutralized” in Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2015.
Akar said in a speech before parliament that “the Turkish army launched a ground and air military operation against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq in cooperation with Turkish intelligence.”
He said that during the operation, “20 terrorists” were “neutralised”, including the perpetrators of the terrorist attack on Turkish soldiers in the area of Operation “Claw of Thunderbolt”.
Akar announced “the neutralization of 33,000 terrorists” in northern Syria and Iraq since July 24, 2015, and “2,619 terrorists since the beginning of this year.”
And on Thursday, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the killing of 3 soldiers in the “Claw of Thunderbolt” operation in northern Iraq, as a result of an attack by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Over the past years, Turkey has carried out 4 military operations in northern Syria against ISIS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, as well as the Syrian army, in addition to repeated operations in Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.