The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) killed a wanted terrorist of the PKK terrorist organization, Irfan Akcan, in Iraq’s Sinjar region last week.
According to security sources speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday, the terrorist, codenamed Azad Heşet, was allegedly responsible for customs activities.
The sources said Akcan coordinated the transfer of arms and terrorist members between Sinjar and Syria and forcefully gathered money from the local people.
Akcan was listed in the gray category of the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, which is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.
After MIT received intelligence that Akcan was going to realize a transfer of terrorists and arms to be used against Turkey’s security forces, it acted on Nov. 8 and killed the terrorist close to the Syrian border in Sinjar.
Akcan, who joined the PKK in 2010, participated in terror attacks against the Turkish gendarmerie, police and armed forces in 2015 in the Silopi district of Turkey's southeastern Şırnak province.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014, on the pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate threats posed to its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorists. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting the group. Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the terrorists to leave the area.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children.
