The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) eliminated a terrorist known by his codename “Bahoz Afrin” in Syria, security sources said on Sunday.
Photos shared by security sources showed the wreckage of a car where Afrin was traveling. Afrin was in charge of PKK/YPG terrorists in Syria’s Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani.
Sources said the terrorist was behind a string of attacks targeting Turkish troops on the Turkish-Syrian border. He was planning another “sensational” attack when he was included in the target list of MIT.
Afrin joined the PKK/YPG when the terrorist group took over several northeastern towns amid Syria’s civil war. In 2019, he was promoted to “commander of a PKK battalion.” In 2021, he was tasked with running the terrorist group’s units in Ain al-Arab.
Flanked by armed drones, MIT agents carried out 181 operations in the past year and eliminated 201 terrorists. They also managed to destroy 45 energy facilities and parts of infrastructure the terrorist group built or operated, along with places used to store weapons and munitions by the PKK. Among the 38 terrorists eliminated by MIT were high-profile names. The intelligence organization’s operations, which eliminated terrorists who were behind attacks targeting Türkiye, as well as those who supplied weapons, recruits and cash to the terrorist group, curbed the PKK’s activities. Precision operations are often carried out abroad, in Iraq’s north or Syria, two regions swarming with hideouts of the PKK.
Security sources say MIT is instrumental in contributing to Türkiye’s counterterrorism strategy focusing on “eliminating threats at its source,” namely, beyond Türkiye’s borders. The PKK’s leaders are believed to be hiding in Iraq’s mountainous north and unconfirmed reports say some occasionally cross into Syria through porous parts of the border between the two Middle Eastern countries. Unlike in Iraq, the terrorist group is more “urbanized” in Syria where they even set up their own administrations under the name of SDF. MIT’s operations in Syria’s north destroyed critical facilities of the YPG, including an oil refinery where the group reaps the benefits of oil extracted in the region. The intelligence agency’s fieldwork and employment of drones cornered the PKK and security sources say the operations even drove the terrorist group to infighting, with members accusing each other of betraying the group when their location was uncovered. Airstrikes by Türkiye also dispirited PKK members and increased the number of people leaving the terrorist group. The number of new recruits also significantly dropped.
Among the names eliminated by MIT are those who were on the wanted list of Türkiye’s Interior Ministry, as well as elusive top figures of the terrorist group. For instance, Abdurrahman Çadırcı, who had an Interpol arrest warrant, was eliminated in Syria’s Qamishli on June 23. MIT’s operations also eliminated top names of the MLKP, a terrorist group affiliated with the PKK, which was behind an attack on a prison van in Türkiye’s Bursa in April 2022. Saad Ali Bedel, also known as "Ceko Pir," who was in charge of PKK members in Iraq’s Sinjar, was eliminated there last March. Sabri Abdullah, who ran the “intelligence unit” of the PKK was eliminated in Syria’s north last April. In May, Haydar Demirel, a senior figure of the terrorist group that was the mastermind of attacks targeting Turkish military bases in the past, was eliminated by the Turkish intelligence organization. And Bekir Kına, a trained assassin for the PKK, was eliminated in June.
