Three soldiers were killed and six were wounded in an operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the eastern province of Hakkari early on Dec. 2, Doğan News Agency has reported.

One of the killed soldiers, private Servet Tomak, had lost his father and was living with his mother in the Marmara province of Bursa. One of the other soldiers, contracted private Özgür Mutlu, was from the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale.

Security sources said the casualties came from a clash in the Çukurca district of Hakkari between Turkish security forces and PKK militants in the Mount Güven area, close to Turkey’s border with Iraq.

The clashes began at 06.40 am in the Güven Dağı Base zone after a PKK militant tried to infiltrate into the facility during heavy snow and foggy weather conditions.

Howitzers positioned in the area started to fire on the militants, and as militants under the offensive started to retreat, Turkish Air Force jets struck the targets, killing seven militants and heavily wounding nine others.

The nine injured were left at the scene after the attack, as security forces obtained the radio talk of fleeing militants who were instructed to leave the wounded by taking their weapons.

Separately, four militants were “neutralized” after Turkey fired artillery rounds into Hakurk, northern Iraq, from the Şemdinli district of Hakkari.