Turkish soldier killed in clash in northern Iraq, defense ministry says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Turkish soldiers on an armored personnel carrier drive toward Karkamis, on the Turkish-Syrian border, in the southeastern Gaziantep province, Turkey, Aug. 27, 2016. — REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish soldier was killed on Monday in a clash with militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and Turkish airstrikes killed many militants, the Defence Ministry said.

The airstrikes also destroyed 21 PKK targets, the ministry said in a statement without elaborating.

Ankara uses the term "neutralised" to mean killed.

The soldier was killed in a clash in Gara region and Turkish air forces targeted PKK bases in Gara, Hakurk, Metina and Qandil, the ministry said.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

Turkey has conducted years of cross-border military operations against militants that have left roughly half the Syrian territory bordering Turkey and all of Iraqi territory bordering Turkey controlled or overseen by Turkey's military.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; writing by Burcu Karakas; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Angus MacSwan)