ANKARA

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization “neutralized” a so-called senior PKK/YPG terrorist in an operation in Syria's Ayn al-Arab region, security sources said on Monday.

Mahmut Agca, codenamed Azad, had been the organizer of the group’s terrorist activities carried out in Türkiye since 2015.

The terror group member, who was identified as holding an organizational meeting in a house in Syria's Ayn al-Arab, was neutralized in a pinpoint operation.

Agca, who joined the organization in 2006, was among the planners of several terrorist attacks, including the one on Aug. 29, 2015, in Türkiye’s southeastern Sanliurfa province, where two police officers were martyred in an attack targeting a police car.

He was also behind the attack on Aug. 10, 2016, in southeastern Turkish province Diyarbakir's Sur district, where a service vehicle carrying riot police was targeted, resulting in the death of six civilians and injuries to 17 others, including nine police officers.

Additionally, he was found to have been involved in the planning of other major terrorist attacks, including the Dec. 10, 2016 attack in Istanbul's Besiktas district, where an explosive-laden vehicle and a suicide bomber killed 47 people, including 40 police officers, and injured 242 others.

Agca was also linked to the Jan. 8, 2022 attack in Akcakale, Sanliurfa by the Syrian border, where an explosive planted on a road targeted a passing military vehicle, resulting in the killing of three soldiers and the injury of another.

He was also identified as one of the planners of the Aug. 7, 2024 attack in Syria's Azaz region, where an explosive-laden truck targeted a checkpoint manned by Syrian National Army personnel.

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

In its 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK -- listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including infants, women, and children.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.