News / Turkey

PKK logistics head slain in Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq

Thursday, 19 July 2018 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 19 July 2018 2:17 PM ]

This file picture shows Turkish fighter jets flying in formation. (Photo by Anadolu news agency)

Turkey’s military says the head of logistics for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group has been killed as Turkish military aircraft conducted a series of airstrikes against terrorist hideouts in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), in a statement published on its official Twitter page on Thursday, announced that Hasan Cakmak, better known by the nom de guerre Delil Karakocan, was "neutralized" on July 13 when Turkish fighter jets targeted a group of three PKK members in the mountainous Qandil region of northern Iraq.

The trio were reportedly completing a deal for weapons, assault rifles and drugs.

In a separate statement, the military said Turkish airstrikes had "neutralized" nine PKK terrorists in Turkey's southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Siirt as well as northern Iraq.

Turkey’s Interior Ministry, in a statement released last Thursday, announced that high-ranking PKK terrorist Sefer Acar, better known by the nom de guerre Welat Gever, had been “neutralized” during an offensive in the Kocyigit village of the eastern province of Bitlis on June 28.

PressTV-High-profile PKK terrorist killed in eastern Turkey

Turkish gendarmerie forces have “neutralized” a high-ranking member of the Kurdish PKK militant group in the country’s eastern province of Bitlis.

The Turkish military generally uses the term "neutralize" to signify that the militants were killed, captured or surrendered.

PKK militants regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.

Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, has declared the PKK a terrorist group and banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.

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