A poster of the leader of the PKK terrorist group, Abdullah Öcalan, was removed from the city center of Sinjar in northern Iraq, an area where the PKK has bases and training camps.
"We will not allow pictures of terrorists to be raised in the district," Maj. Gen. Atheer al-Rubaie, commander of the 20th division of the Iraqi army, said in video footage shared by the division on Saturday.
He stressed that only the Iraqi national flag can be displayed in the Sinjar district.
Al-Rubaie also warned the PKK terrorist group of "severe punishment" if they remove the Iraqi flag.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from the Daesh terrorist group. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities.
On Oct. 9, 2020, Baghdad announced a "historic deal" with northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to bolster the government's authority in Sinjar.
Within the scope of the Sinjar deal, a series of security arrangements were to be implemented, including booting out armed groups like the PKK, its affiliates and Iran-backed militias.
Turkey had also been supporting the deal that would contribute to the region’s stability while tackling the PKK.
Separately, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) political movement told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday that a number of PKK terrorists have infiltrated the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and are disguised as merchants.
ITF spokesperson Muhammed Saman said terrorists are hiding in Kirkuk after receiving a major blow Feb. 2 by the Turkish military's Operation Winter Eagle against terror sites in northern Iraq and parts of northern Syria.
Noting that terrorists began to settle in Kirkuk disguised as merchants and investors with fake identities, Saman said they rented workplaces such as wedding halls and cafes.
Stating that the Iraqi intelligence service is aware of the group's presence in Kirkuk, Saman said Iraq could not intervene in this development due to the political crisis that the country is witnessing.
Citing that the PKK has rapidly increased its presence in Kirkuk, Saman underlined that Turkmen officials and politicians are in danger.
Saman said terrorists who previously smuggled weapons and drugs and conducted human trafficking on the Iraq-Syria border are now smuggling oil in Kirkuk, adding that the group stole oil from the Khabbaz oil field in the west of the city and took it out of Iraq illegally.
Stating that the PKK took over some parts of the Sinjar district of Mosul, exploiting the presence of Daesh terror group in Iraq years ago, Saman pointed out that the same terrorists are now cooperating with Daesh.
The PKK now provides support to Daesh attacks against security forces near Altun Kupri in Kirkuk from time to time, according to Saman.
The spokesperson urged the KRG to play a more serious and positive role in the fight against the PKK terrorist group in Iraq.
He pointed out that the KRG has political weight in Baghdad and considering its political and economic relations with Turkey, it should engage in a serious fight against terrorists.