Turkey's Defence Ministry on Monday said 12 soldiers had died after being exposed to methane gas during a search operation in caves in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The ministry said the incident had taken place on Sunday inside a cave in Duhok during a mission to retrieve the remains of a Turkish soldier killed during a military operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
“Four other of our heroic comrades in arms, affected by methane gas, have died … bringing the total number of victims to 12,” the ministry said on X, raising an earlier toll. It did not provide further details on the origin of the methane gas in the caves.
The soldier whose body the troops were searching for had been shot dead by Kurdish fighters in May 2022, the ministry said. Turkey was waging Operation Claw Lock at that time, attacking PKK positions in northern Duhok.
The incident comes amid renewed peace efforts and continuing talks aimed at ending the conflict between Turkey and the PKK. The militant group has agreed to end its decades-long armed struggle and to disarm.
The news of the deaths started to emerge on Sunday as a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party was visiting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. The party has been mediating the negotiations between the group and Ankara.
The DEM Party offered condolences over the deaths of the soldiers and said Ocalan had stated he was “deeply concerned” by the incident.
The PKK was founded by Ocalan in 1978 and has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades, with about 40,000 killed on both sides. The group is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU, something it challenges.
