3 soldiers martyred, 2 injured in southeastern Turkey

By Aziz Aslan, Hasan Namli and Sinan Uslu

ANKARA

Three Turkish soldiers were martyred and two others injured during a counter-terrorism operation in southeastern Diyarbakir province on Wednesday, according to a military source.

The three soldiers had succumbed to their wounds at the Selahaddin Eyyubi Hospital in the province, the source, who asked not to be unnamed due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

Meanwhile, Turkish Air Forces killed three PKK terrorists in an airstrike in northern Iraq’s Qandil area early Wednesday, Turkish General Staff said.

The military said in a statement that two shelters and a weapons pit of the terror group were also destroyed.

Two more PKK terrorists were killed in a separate airstrike in southeastern Diyarbakir province on Wednesday, the statement added.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.