ANKARA: Three Turkish soldiers were killed Thursday in clashes withfighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq,the army said.“Three of our heroic comrades fell as martyrs as a result of clashes withmembers of the separatist terrorist organization in northern Iraq,” thearmy said, referring to the PKK which is designated as a terror group byTurkey and its Western allies.Turkish warplanes have often bombed PKK hideouts in the mountainousnorthern Iraq while the security forces have sporadically launchedcross-border incursions in pursuit of rebel fighters.The army statement did not say where the latest clashes took place.On Tuesday, the army said another soldier was killed in an attack blamed onthe PKK, and responded with airstrikes against the group.The PKK has been waging an insurgency in the southeast of Turkey since 1984which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.Fighting in the region intensified between Turkish security forces and thePKK after the collapse of a two-year cease-fire in 2015.The PKK’s leadership and rear bases are located in the remote mountainousQandil region and other areas of northern Iraq.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened a majorcross-border operation to dislodge the group from its strongholds there.