Security forces in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) raided and closed down the office of a pro-PKK party and arrested nine members of the terrorist group, Rudaw reported late Wednesday.

The forces raided a center of Tavgari Azadi (Kurdistan Free Society Movement) in Garmiyan and made the arrests, it said.

According to the website, the KRG's deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, one of the senior members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), ordered the shut down of the Tavgari Azadi offices last year.

The PUK, one of the two governing parties alongside the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), has recently ramped up pressure against the PKK terrorist group following Washington's move to put bounties on three senior terrorists Murat Karayılan, Cemil Bayık and Duran Kalkan.

The PUK recognizes Tavgari Azadi as the political wing of the PKK.

A senior militant from the group previously said that the PUK is exerting heavy pressure on them and they would have to leave Sulaymaniyah if the policy continues.

In Sulaymaniyah, one of the biggest cities in Iraqi Kurdistan, the PUK is in political control.