The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) announced on Wednesday that a PKK terrorist was “neutralized” in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah, using a term to describe terrorists killed or captured alive.
The terrorist identified as Bekir Kına, also known by his PKK codename "Bawer Botan," was in training for acts of assassination against Turkish security forces in Türkiye, MIT announced.
The news came in as Hakan Fidan, former head of MIT, is about to visit Northern Iraq where Sulaymaniyah is located, as Türkiye’s new foreign minister, on Wednesday. Fidan is expected to hold talks with officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which controls Northern Iraq.
Security sources said Kına was attending training in what PKK called “Mahir Academies,” some 150 kilometers (93.21 miles) from the Turkish-Iraqi border. Field agents launched the operation after surveillance work in the area.
Kına joined the terrorist group in 2019 and colluded with its youth wing in Istanbul, before secretly crossing into Iraq where the group’s leadership and a sizable number of recruits hide out in mountainous territory in the country’s north. Security sources said Kına also traveled to Iran.
