The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has killed a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who was allegedly designing and manufacturing drones for the group, in a cross-border operation in northern Iraq, the state-run TRT broadcaster reported on Tuesday.
Turkish intelligence “neutralized” Tekin Okan, also known by the codename “Deniz Bahri,” in the Gara region of northern Iraq, the TRT quoted anonymous security sources as saying.
Turkish authorities often use the term “neutralized” to imply that “terrorists” are killed, wounded, or captured in security operations.
Tekin reportedly carried out the drone attacks in Türkiye’s Sirnak province in 2018, and two others on Diyarbakir and Batman Airports in 2021. He designed and manufactured the drones used in the PKK’s attacks on Turkish security forces and was travelling between Syria and Iraq, the TRT reported.
The MIT has intensified its cross-border operations in Iraq recently, particularly in Gara, and killed at least three other senior PKK members in the region last week.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, has rebelled against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
