ANKARA

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) “neutralized” a senior PKK terrorist in northern Iraq, across the Turkish border, security sources said Sunday.

Kadri Encu, codenamed Dogan, was “neutralized” in Iraq’s Gara region, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Encu, who was providing path for terrorist groups in northern Iraq’s Gara, Zap, Metina and Haftanin regions, to carry out attacks against the region of Türkiye’s anti-terror Operation Claw, it added.

According to the sources, Encu was the so-called Iraq-Syria officer of the terrorist PKK, joined the group’s rural ranks in 2006, and was trained in the Zap region.

He acted as the bodyguard of Duran Kalkan, codenamed Abbas, and was a member of the PKK’s so-called executive council in 2015-2017. He went to Gara as Iraq-Syria courier officer in January 2018, the sources added.

Apart from his so-called courier duties, the sources said, Encu was also involved in the activities of the terror group’s foreign relations unit and organized the transfers of PKK terrorists and weapons within Iraq and between Iraq and Syria.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

PKK terrorists often hide out across the border, in northern Iraq, to plot attacks.

Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last year in April to target the terror group PKK's hideouts in the Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq, located near the Turkish border.

It was preceded by two operations – Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle – launched in 2020 to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Türkiye.

In its more than 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 nearly 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.