Turkey held simultaneous funeral ceremonies across more than a dozen provinces on 8 July for the 12 soldiers who died last week after inhaling methane gas in a cave during the Pençe-Kilit counter-terror operation in northern Iraq. The coffins of Üsteğmen Ege Akar, Teğmen Furkan Sert, Astsubay Kıdemli Çavuş Fikret Mangura, Uzman Çavuşlar Kani Obi, Ümit Üzüm and Enver Yaman, as well as Piyade Sözleşmeli Erler Celalettin Uyanık, Özkan Özkanlı, Ahmet Gültekin, Ahmet Kuşak and two other personnel, were escorted to their hometowns draped in Turkish flags. Cabinet members and senior commanders joined thousands of mourners at services in İzmir, Manisa, Kayseri, Niğde, Bitlis, Ordu, Balıkesir, İstanbul, Aksaray and Malatya. Adalet Minister Yılmaz Tunç, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya offered condolences to families, while honour guards fired salutes and military bands played marches. In several provinces young children and siblings placed flowers or personal items on the caskets, scenes that were widely broadcast on national networks. The Defence Ministry has said the deaths occurred during an operation to clear a cave used by militants, adding that an investigation is under way. The incident is the deadliest single non-combat loss for Turkish forces in the Pençe-Kilit campaign, which Ankara launched in 2022 to dismantle outlawed groups in Iraq’s Zap, Metina and Avaşin-Basyan regions.