Operation Eagle’s Claw 2

According to the military, they succeeded in clearing the Gara district, where fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party ( KWP) had set up their military installations. The overall result of the operation was the destruction of more than fifty group facilities, as well as the killing of forty-eight Kurdish fighters. Two more were taken prisoner. On the Turkish side, three soldiers were killed and three others were wounded. Several more were killed by Turkish drones as they attempted to leave the area of the operation.

But the main statement from Turkey’s top military leadership was the KWP’s accusation of the massacre of thirteen Turkish nationals who disappeared in Gara County in 2015. According to the military’s version, the thirteen hostages were executed by one of the group’s leaders. The bodies of those killed were found in a cave while clearing mountain tunnels.

The KWP itself described Operation Eagle’s Claw 2 as a battle in which the party tried to counter Turkish troops intent on invading Iraq’s Ninewa and Kirkuk provinces. Yesterday, the group said a Turkish attempt to free the hostages had failed miserably and that the Turkish military was trying to leave the Gara district. However, it was not specified why this happened.