Twelve Turkish soldiers have died after being exposed to methane gas while searching caves in northern Iraq.
The troops had been deployed to locate the remains of a comrade who was killed in a clash with Kurdish militants more than three years ago.
The Turkish Ministry of Defence said 19 soldiers were affected by the gas leak during the operation on Sunday, July 6.
The soldiers had entered the cave complex during a search mission for the body of a Turkish soldier shot dead by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in May 2022.
Officials said the cave was previously used as a makeshift hospital by PKK militants, who have long operated in the remote terrain along the Turkey-Iraq border.
So far, the source of the methane gas is still unclear.
The operation is part of Turkey's wider military campaign against the PKK, designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
The campaign, known as Operation Claw-Lock, was launched in April 2022 and aims to root out Kurdish fighters based in caves.
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