Turkish intelligence neutralizes PKK terrorist in N.Iraq

ANKARA

Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) neutralized a PKK terrorist, who was in grey category of Interior Ministry's wanted terrorists list, in northern Iraq, according to a security source on Tuesday.

Irfan Akcan, codenamed Azad Heset, was so-called Sinjar customs official of the terror group and his position within the group was detected by the intelligence officers on the ground, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

After close surveillance, officers found that Akcan was coordinating terrorist and ammunition crossings between Iraq’s Sinjar and Syria. He was also extorting money from the local people who are engaged in trade on the border line.

Action was taken upon an instant intelligence that Akcan “would transfer ammunition and terrorists from Syria to Iraq to be used against our security forces.”

Akcan was neutralized in an operation carried out by MIT in Sinjar on Syria border on Nov. 8, the source added.

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

The terrorist joined the terror group in 2010 and took part in 2015 incidents in the Silopi district of Turkey’s Sirnak province, which left Turkish gendarmerie, police forces and army personnel martyred.

In 2015, the PKK terrorists resumed its armed campaign in towns and cities in the southeast Turkey where terrorists used ditches and barricades to keep police and soldiers out of certain neighborhoods.

He took the so-called position in Sinjar in 2019 and Akcan used the codenames of Rojger Azad, Azad Munzur and Azad Heset during his time within the terror group.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

*Writing by Sena Guler