The minister of National Defense announced the latest body count in the fight against the terrorist group PKK. As he met the commanders of the army on Wednesday in the capital Ankara, Yaşar Güler said 59 PKK members were eliminated in Iraq and Syria.

Güler said 71 targets were hit in airstrikes in the northern parts of Iraq and Syria which neighbor Türkiye, in response to PKK attacks targeting Operation Claw-Lock zone on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. Twelve Turkish soldiers were killed in attacks on a military outpost on the said zone, where Türkiye regularly carries out operations against PKK.

"We are in great pain but our resolve remains firm. We avenged our precious children and will continue avenging, inflicting the heaviest toll (on the terrorists)," Güler said as commanders briefed him on counterterrorism operations. "Our fight will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized," he said, using a term authorities employ to describe terrorists captured dead or alive.

Also on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said 54 terrorists were eliminated in the past 36 hours. "Rest assured that our sacred journey (for a successful Türkiye) will not be hindered by heinous terror attacks," Erdoğan told a gathering of scientists in the capital Ankara.