Turkey: 34 PKK terrorists on wanted list killed in 2018

ANKARA

At least 34 PKK terrorists on Turkey's wanted list have been killed during counter-terrorism operations since Jan. 1, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said a senior member of the terrorist group, who was killed in eastern Siirt on Tuesday during airstrikes, was also among the neutralized terrorists in the ministry’s list of wanted terrorists.

Adnan Celik, codenamed Kendal, was mentioned in the grey category of the Interior Ministry's list of wanted terrorists.

The wanted list is divided into six color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange, grey and white.

The statement said since Jan. 1, five terrorists from red, four from blue, three from green, two from orange, 13 from grey, and seven from white category were killed.

Fifteen PKK terrorists were neutralized in airstrikes in Siirt and Kars provinces on Tuesday.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state since the mid-1980s, in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed, including women and children.

Reporting by Sertac Bulur:Writing by Kubra Chohan