On 7–8 October, the Kurdistan Workers' Party killed 15 Turkish soldiers. In one of the heaviest single losses inflicted on the Turkish Armed Forces by the PKK, a large militant force ambushed an 18-man Turkish commando unit in the Garbar Mountains of Şırnak Province on 7 October, killing 13 soldiers and wounding three. One PKK fighter was killed. Following the attack, the militaryshelled areas near the Iraq–Turkey border to prevent the militants from crossing into northern Iraq. Some days after, the Grand National Assembly approved a measure granting Turkish troops the right to carry out an incursion into northern Iraq.
The PKK blew up a bridge to prevent reinforcements thirty minutes before the attack using 15 kilograms of explosives, cutting off the main route. The PKK attackers then launched an assault on a military outpost, killing 12 soldiers and wounding 16. Eight Turkish soldiers were captured by the PKK. One of the wounded Turkish soldiers explained the attack in an interview. He said that he was part of a company of 50 soldiers who were attacked starting at 00:20 by around 150 attackers whom even had a Doçka. The attackers retreated after 03:45 when AH-1 Cobras arrived. The Turkish Armed Forces announced that after sending reinforcements and helicopters to the area shortly afterwards as a retaliation, 32 of the PKK militants were reportedly killed in the earlier stages of the operation. Not far from the scene of the ambush, a minibus with a wedding party hit a landmine believed planted by the PKK. Seventeen civilians were injured and the minibus was completely wrecked. The wounded were airlifted to the Yüksekova hospital.
Counterattacks
Artillery was fired into northern Iraq following the 21 October attacks. On early 24 October, AH-1 Cobra helicopters and F-16 Fighting Falcon jets took off of the DiyarbakırAir base and hit PKK camps as far as 50 km into Iraqi territory. Foreign media services have confirmed this. Turkish elite commandos began a hot pursuit operation in northern Iraq to find the eight missing Turkish soldiers. Radio chatter among PKK operatives on an open channel claimed that after their photos were taken two of the eight soldiers were taken to Arbil. The soldiers were eventually released on 4 November, though all eight were charged with "disobeying orders" by surrendering. In the search and destroy operation in the vicinity of the attack area, Turkey captured 3 AK-47assault rifles, 36 hand grenades, one RPG-7rocket launcher, 27 rockets, 153 AK-47 cartridges, 10 AK-47 magazines and 500 grams of C-4 explosives from the area. On 28 October, 8,000 Turkish troops with air support carried out a major operation in Tunceli Province, killing 20 PKK members according to the army.
