Remzi Avcı, the so-called Kirkuk "state representative" of the terrorist group PKK was eliminated in an operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), security sources said on Tuesday.

Avcı, also known as "Çiya Amed," was "neutralized" in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah, sources said. "Neutralized" is a term used to describe terrorists captured dead or alive. Avcı was behind a string of attacks against security forces in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır. The terrorist group orchestrated simultaneous urban attacks as security forces sought to wipe out the terrorist presence in the city in operations in 2015. Avcı took part in setting up barricades and digging up streets to prevent the advance of soldiers across Diyarbakır in the biggest urban confrontation between Turkish security forces and the terrorists. He was in the "red category" of the Interior Ministry’s most wanted list.

Avcı joined the PKK in 1992 and eluded capture for years, both in Türkiye and abroad. He joined the terrorist group’s Syria wing in 2014 before infiltrating into Türkiye again in 2015. He was active in organizing attacks in Diyarbakır’s Sur and Lice districts before fleeing to Iraq in 2017. Avcı worked as a "trainer" for new recruits for a while before traveling to Syria to collude with fellow terrorists against Türkiye’s Operation Olive Branch in northern Syria in 2018. After the operation succeeded, he was forced to flee back into Iraq.

MIT discovered he was planning new attacks against Turkish soldiers in Iraq. Security sources did not disclose the date of the operation but said the PKK ringleaders tried to hide the assassination of Avcı from its members to keep their morale high.

The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK’s stronghold, and the terrorist group is active in many nearby cities and towns. In addition, it occupies many villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Türkiye.

Ankara maintains dozens of military bases in northern Iraq where it regularly launches operations against the group, where its stronghold in the Qandil Mountains are. In the last few years, intensifying operations in the region have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group’s influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour. Türkiye’s military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades, separately from its operations against the PKK, and also included 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.

Also on Tuesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced that 10 PKK members were eliminated in Iraq’s Qandil and Hakurk regions.