Four Turkish Soldiers Injured in Clashes With Kurdish Militants

Reconnaissance aircraft, armed helicopters, and a commando unit were sent to the eastern region of Agri.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Kurdish insurgents on Saturday shelled Turkish military forces in the country's eastern region of Agri and injured four soldiers, Turkey’s General Staff said in a statement.

“Members of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) shelled our positions in Agri. The attack was repulsed, four our soldiers were injured.”

The document added that reconnaissance aircraft, armed helicopters, and a commando unit were sent to the area.

On Friday, the Turkish army dispatched troops to Agri after receiving intelligence that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, outlawed in the country, would agitate there for support of the PKK over the weekend.

Kurds comprise up to 25 percent of the Turkish population. The Kurdistan Workers' Party was founded at the end of the 1970s to fight for self-determination of Kurds in Turkey.

In 2013, the Turkish Government initiated the peace process with the PKK. In 2014, the peace process was jeopardized as Ankara was reluctant to help Kurds to fight against the Islamic State when it attacked the Kurdish town of Kobane on Turkish border with Syria.