Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Friday that five terrorists from a "separatist terrorist group" plotting to carry out bomb attacks were captured in an operation in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır. "Separatist terrorist group" refers to the PKK, which, since the 1980s, has terrorized primarily southeastern Türkiye and committed acts of terrorism in other cities as well as in Iraq and Syria.

Yerlikaya said in a social media post a search of the residences of terrorists led to the discovery of bomb-making equipment as well as pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a powerful explosive material. "We will show no mercy to these inhumane traitors," the minister said in his post.

Türkiye has "neutralized" more than 1,180 PKK/YPG terrorists since the beginning of this year, including those hiding out across the border in Iraq and northern Syria, the National Defense Ministry said on Thursday. The YPG is the name of the Syrian wing of the PKK.

"Thirty-nine terrorists were neutralized last week," a National Defense Ministry official told reporters in the capital Ankara. The total number of terrorists "neutralized" so far this year has reached 1,185, he added. Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. Since January, 165 harassment incidents and attacks have been carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist group in areas of Türkiye's counterterrorism operations, and 864 terrorists have been "neutralized" with the immediate response of Turkish soldiers.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. In the last few years, the operations intensifying in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group’s influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.

Its military involvement in northern Iraq dates back over two decades, separately from its operations against the PKK, and also included the war against the Daesh terrorist group, which controlled much of the area, in 2014 and 2015, when Ankara was an ally in the U.S.-led anti-Daesh campaign. In recent years, Türkiye's intelligence agency has stepped up its operations abroad to stamp out terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria, Türkiye’s two southeastern neighbors.