By Ali Jawad
BAGHDAD (AA) - A picture of the leader of the PKK terror group, Abdullah Ocalan, was removed from the city center of Sinjar in northern Iraq.
“We will not allow pictures of terrorists to be raised in the district,” Major General Atheer al-Rubaie, commander of the 20th division of the Iraqi army, said in video footage shared by the division on Saturday.
He stressed that only the Iraqi national flag can be displayed in the Sinjar district.
Al-Rubaie also warned the PKK terror group of "severe punishment" if they remove the Iraqi flag.
The PKK terror group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Ezidi community from the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group.
On October 9, 2020, Baghdad announced a "historic deal" with northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government to bolster the federal government's authority in Sinjar.
The agreement also stipulates ending the presence of the PKK terrorist organization in Sinjar and canceling any role for entities associated with it in the region.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara