A senior figure of the terrorist group PKK was eliminated in Northern Iraq's Sinjar, security sources announced on Friday. Identified as Yılmaz Bayram, also known by his codename Agit Gever, the terrorist was the target of an operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
Bayram was the group's top logistics man providing weapons and ammunition to terrorists, said the sources, who requested anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media. Details of the operation were not disclosed but photos shared by security sources showed a burned-out car, pointing out to a precision strike against the vehicle Bayram was traveling in.
Security sources said Bayram joined the terrorist group in 2010. He was involved in a string of terror attacks targeting security forces and civilians in and around Hakkari, a southeastern Turkish province, between 2011 and 2016. In 2015, he was assigned to head a unit of PKK which would later involve in notorious "ditch incidents" in Türkiye's southeast.
PKK members and supporters have dug out ditches on streets in southeastern cities as Turkish security forces carried out a major sweep against terrorists. In 2016, Bayram went to Iraq's north where the terrorists maintain hideouts in mountainous territories. In 2018, he traveled to Syria's Hasakeh and was involved in terror attacks in that country's north where YPG, the Syrian wing of the terrorist group, has a presence. He returned to Sinjar in 2020 and was serving as a "courier" for the terrorist group.
MIT has been monitoring high-ranking members of the PKK and recently conducted another operation in northern Iraq.
The intelligence agency launched the operation upon intelligence that Bayram would oversee a new supply of weapons and munitions to fellow terrorists. After he was eliminated, said munitions and weapons were also destroyed in MIT's operation.
In its over 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK-listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
In related news, the Ministry of National Defense announced on Friday that five members of the YPG, who were planning attacks in Syria's north were eliminated. The ministry said in a statement that the terrorists were "neutralized in the Peace Spring area," referring to an area of operations by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to liberate northern Syria from terrorist groups. The peace out operation was carried out by TSK and Syrian opposition forces in 2019 against YPG, in an area covering districts and towns, from Tal Abyad to Ras Al-Ain.