ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey’s National Defense Ministry on Sunday announced that 19 of its personnel were exposed to methane gas poisoning during a search operation in the Kurdistan Region’s border regions with Turkey, of whom five lost their lives. 

“During a search-and-clear operation conducted on July 6, 2025, in a cave at an elevation of 852 meters, previously known to have been used as a hospital … in the Claw-Lock Operation region, 19 of our personnel were exposed to methane gas…despite all interventions,” wrote the ministry in an X post, adding that five personnel had died in the operation.

For years, Turkey has launched several rounds of operations dubbed the Claw Operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistan Region. The latest series of operations, Operation Claw Lock, began in April 2022 and aimed to end the group’s presence in the region.

The operation was conducted to find the body of a Turkish soldier who was shot dead in a firefight in 2022 whose body has yet to be discovered, said the ministry, adding that “the area has been brought under control.”

The incident comes amid peace talks between the PKK and Turkey to halt hostilities, with the PKK set to commence a disarmament process in the Kurdistan Region later this month, coming after a call by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who called on the militant group to disarm and dissolve themselves in an address in February. 

The PKK is an armed group that up until its disbandment in May 2025 claimed to fight for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey, predominantly engaging in armed struggle with Turkish forces from the mountainous borders of the Kurdish Region, Iraq, and Syria.

The group had long been recognized as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the US, and the European Union. It was also declared a banned organization by Iraq in 2024.