Turkish commandos have eliminated one of the so-called leaders of the terrorist group PKK in northern Iraq, security sources said on Sunday.
Bilal Onat, codenamed “Devrim Garzan,” who was a member of the PKK’s administrative council for the Avashin region near the Turkish border, was eliminated in an air-backed operation, along with his group, sources from the Defense Ministry informed.
Onat’s group, which included Mazlum Yılmaz codenamed “Sidar Amed,” was detected by an unmanned aerial vehicle while preparing for an attack in Avashin.
Turkish Armed Forces last week eliminated another senior PKK member in northern Iraq last week, Ferit Yüksel, who was in charge of communications for PKK in the Zap district; and Edip Temiz, another prominent figure in the Qandil Mountains, the group’s stronghold.
Turkish security forces have stepped up their operations abroad in recent years to stamp out terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria – Türkiye’s two southeastern neighbors.
Dozens were neutralized in the past two years in precision operations by Turkish forces in both countries, where the current conflicts, geography, as well as U.S. support in Syria shelter them from cross-border operations.
Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that security forces eliminated a total of 19 terrorists in the north of Syria and Iraq in the past week alone.
It raised the number of terrorists eliminated this year to 813 and 38,156 in total since 2015, when Ankara launched cross-border counterterrorism operations in the region, it said.
The PKK is responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 civilian and security personnel in Türkiye over an almost four-decade campaign of terror. Türkiye has been conducting military operations in northern Iraq since 2019, with ground and air forces to battle the organization.
In the past few years, intensifying operations in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group’s influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to have cleared Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.
Türkiye’s military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades. Apart from its operations against the PKK, is the war against the Daesh terrorist group, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign.
