Turkish intelligence “neutralised” Abdulmutalip Dogruci, a senior PKK terrorist in northern Iraq, security sources have said.
The National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) located the terrorist codenamed Cesur Vedat, in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, said the sources on Tuesday on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.
It was determined that Dogruci had been assigned by the PKK terrorist group to organise and supervise drug trafficking activities in the Sulaymaniyah countryside. The terrorist, tried for drug trafficking and looting in Istanbul in the past, moved to Iraq in 2017 and started operating in the countryside.
Turkish authorities use the term "neutralise" to imply the terrorists in question were surrendered, killed, or captured.
The anti-terror operation came after the December 29 PKK terror attack that killed 12 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq.
Turkish air strikes, since then, have destroyed dozens of terror targets in northern Iraq and Syria, and neutralised senior terrorists.
Four terrorists neutralised
Turkish security forces also neutralised four PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria, the National Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
The terrorists, who were plotting an attack on Turkish soldiers, were targeted in Operation Euphrates Shield zone, according to the ministry.
PKK terrorists often hide in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye. The group also has a Syrian branch, known as the YPG.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
