Turkish intelligence ‘neutralizes’ senior PKK terrorist in northern Iraq

By Utku Simsek

Turkish intelligence has “neutralized” Abdulmutalip Dogruci, a senior PKK terrorist in northern Iraq, security sources said on Tuesday.

The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) located the terrorist codenamed Cesur Vedat, in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

It was determined that Dogruci had been assigned by the PKK terrorist group to organize and supervise drug trafficking activities in the Sulaymaniyah countryside. The terrorist, tried for drug trafficking and looting in Istanbul in the past, moved to Iraq in 2017 and started operating in the countryside.

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

The anti-terror operation came after the Dec. 29 PKK terror attack that killed 12 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq. Turkish airstrikes, since then, have destroyed dozens of terror targets in northern Iraq and Syria, and neutralized senior terrorists.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye. The group also has a Syrian branch, known as the YPG.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Merve Berker