Kurdish Attack Kills Two Turkish Soldiers in Northern Iraq

Turkish army tanks are seen during a military exercise near the Turkish-Iraqi border in Silopi, Turkey, September 18, 2017. Mehmet Selim Yalcin/Dogan News Agency, DHA via REUTERS
Turkish army tanks are seen during a military exercise near the Turkish-Iraqi border in Silopi, Turkey, September 18, 2017. Mehmet Selim Yalcin/Dogan News Agency, DHA via REUTERS
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Kurdish Attack Kills Two Turkish Soldiers in Northern Iraq

Turkish army tanks are seen during a military exercise near the Turkish-Iraqi border in Silopi, Turkey, September 18, 2017. Mehmet Selim Yalcin/Dogan News Agency, DHA via REUTERS
Turkish army tanks are seen during a military exercise near the Turkish-Iraqi border in Silopi, Turkey, September 18, 2017. Mehmet Selim Yalcin/Dogan News Agency, DHA via REUTERS

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded after Kurdish fighters fired rockets at a military base in northern Iraq, Turkey's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Turkey has regularly attacked the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based.

The ministry said "harassment fire" by rocket launchers on Thursday killed the two troops at one of Turkey's bases in neighboring Iraq.

In June, Ankara launched a new ground offensive, dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger, that saw Turkish troops advance deeper into Iraq, Reuters reported.

In a separate statement, the Interior Ministry said 71 PKK militants had been killed since July 13 as part of a series of operations within Turkey, dubbed the "Lightning Operations", and added 38 collaborators had also been captured.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict focused in southeast Turkey.



UNRWA Says Determined to Keep Working in Gaza Despite Israeli Ban

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attends a meeting of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution, at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, January 15, 2025. Heiko Junge/NTB/via REUTERS
Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attends a meeting of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution, at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, January 15, 2025. Heiko Junge/NTB/via REUTERS
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UNRWA Says Determined to Keep Working in Gaza Despite Israeli Ban

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attends a meeting of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution, at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, January 15, 2025. Heiko Junge/NTB/via REUTERS
Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attends a meeting of the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution, at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, January 15, 2025. Heiko Junge/NTB/via REUTERS

The head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Friday it is determined to keep working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank after an Israeli ban on its operations takes effect Jan. 30.

Philippe Lazzarini told reporters that shutting down the agency known as UNRWA would “massively weaken the international humanitarian response” in Gaza.

That’s because UNRWA is the only body capable of providing essential health care and education in Gaza, he said, which will be especially needed once the ceasefire takes effect.

Israel alleges Hamas and other militants in Gaza have infiltrated UNRWA, using its facilities and taking aid — claims for which it has provided little evidence.

Established in 1949, UNRWA offers support to the 6 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants around the Mideast.

Right now, nearly all of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza rely on the agency for primary health care, and its 650,000 children depend on UNRWA for education. Lazzarini said ending UNRWA’s operations would be “catastrophic.”