9 PKK/YPG suspects arrested in Afrin, Syria

AFRIN, Syria

Turkish security forces arrested nine people in Syria’s northwestern Afrin district for their suspected links to the PKK terror group, a local officials said on Tuesday.

According to the Hatay Governorate in southern Turkey, which borders civil war-weary Syria, Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) and police in Afrin continued their fight against the PKK terrorists and their branch in Syria, the YPG.

The joint anti-terror operation arrested the suspects for aiding and abetting the PKK, as well as plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks.

Security forces also seized documents related to the organization, an M16 gun and some rifles.

Over the last three years, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch anti-terror operations have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to return home.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The terrorist YPG is the PKK's Syrian branch.

*Writing by Rabia İclal Turan