The Turkish defence ministry announced on Wednesday that five Turkish troops were killed in northern Iraq on Tuesday as part of operations against Kurdish insurgents.

Another two troops were injured in the firefight, according to the ministry statement, which did not specify the location of the confrontation.

According to a previous military count, three troops were killed and four were injured.

Turkish forces battled with rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and its western allies consider a terrorist organisation, according to Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu.

The PKK has training camps and bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984, killing over 40,000 people, many of whom were civilians.

Ankara has conducted a series of operations in Iraq and Syria against PKK members, the most recent of which began in northern Iraq in April.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that a new military operation in northern Syria will be launched shortly, with the goal of creating a 30-kilometer (19-mile) “security zone” along their border.

Since 2016, Turkey has undertaken three offensives against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-Kurdish militia it deems to be affiliated with the PKK.

Turkey intends to utilise these security zones to keep Kurdish insurgents at bay, as well as to host some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees who have taken up residence within its borders.