The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) announced that Bager Öndeş, a member of the PKK terrorist group in charge of the group’s drones and technical equipment, was "neutralized" in Syria in a precision operation. "Neutralized" is a term used to describe terrorists captured dead or alive. In most cross-border operations by MIT, terrorists are usually eliminated by unmanned drones. MIT has stepped up operations in Iraq and Syria to eliminate PKK terrorists in the past years, utilizing field agents and drones.

Öndeş, also known as "Akif Amed," was in Syria’s Tal Rifaat, working for the YPG, the Syrian wing of the terrorist organization whose presence stretches from Iraq’s north to Syria’s lawless northeast.

Turkish security sources said Öndeş, a math graduate, was working on improving drones the terrorist group acquired from Western countries. He was on MIT’s target list for drone attacks targeting Turkish security forces and the Syrian opposition army in Syria.

Öndeş joined the terrorist group in 2013 and underwent weapons training in Qandil, the mountainous region in northern Iraq where PKK’s senior cadres are in hiding. He then traveled to Syria and was active in attacks targeting Turkish security forces during Türkiye’s Operation Olive Branch. After the PKK/YPG hot spot was cleared of terrorists, he fled to Tal Rifaat. He already had an arrest warrant issued by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır on charges of membership in a terrorist group.