Top Kurdish PKK militant killed in northern Iraq

  Sunday, 07 July 2019

source: abna

Turkish military forces have killed a high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group during a counter-terrorism operation in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Turkish military forces have killed a high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group during a counter-terrorism operation in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Turkish sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Sunday that Diyar Garip Muhammed, better known by the nom de guerre Halmat Diyar, was “neutralized” during an offensive on June 27 in the Qandil Mountains.
The sources added that Muhammed was a member of the so-called executive council of the PKK, and its umbrella group, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK).
The Turkish military generally uses the term “neutralize” to signify that the militants were killed, captured or they surrendered.
PKK militants regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.
Turkey, along with the European Union and the United States, has declared the PKK a terrorist group and banned it. The militant group has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.
A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.
More than 40,000 people have been killed during the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking militant group.