Senior PKK terrorists in N.Iraq neutralized by Turkey

ANKARA

Senior PKK terrorists were "neutralized" in an operation last month in northern Iraq, said Turkish security sources on Wednesday.

Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized" in statements to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

An Aug. 19 joint operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Service (MIT) and Turkish security forces leveled a building used for training in northern Iraq’s Qandil region -- where the terrorist group has its headquarters -- neutralizing the terrorists inside, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Turkish security forces identified one terrorist inside the building as Guluzar Tural, codenamed Pelsin Tolhildan, a so-called PKK executive council member and a top wanted terrorist on the Interior Ministry's official list.

Tural reportedly joined the PKK in 1993 and was active in Turkey's eastern Erzincan-Tunceli region and was trained in committing sabotage.

Tural reportedly began involvement in terrorist training earlier this year.

Another terrorist taken out was identified as Saliha Kaytar, codenamed Dr. Jiyan Garzan, a top decision-maker in the KJK, the PKK’s female terrorist branch.

She reportedly joined the terrorist group in 1993 while working in a hospital in the southeastern Diyarbakir province following her medical education at Dicle University.

She was reportedly a top member of PJAK, the Iranian offshoot of the terrorist PKK, in Russia in 2006-2009, while she started working as a surgeon in a hospital in the Qandil area in March 2011.

This year, Kaytar reportedly became a member of the PKK’s so-called executive council.

PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terrorist attacks on Turkey.

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 nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including many children, women, and infants.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev