The so-called northern field commander of the PKK terrorist organization's armed wing, the People's Defense Forces (HPG), Fethi Şarlatan, was seriously injured in an operation in the Metina region of northern Iraq on May 28, according to information released on Thursday by military sources.
The operation came as a second major blow to the terrorist organization in recent days after reports suggesting former HPG commander and the PKK's third in rank, Fehman Hüseyin aka "Bahoz Erdal", was killed in northern Syria on July 9.
According to the military sources, Şarlatan was heavily injured in an airstrike conducted on May 28. Known under the code name "Sabri Başkale", Şarlatan was brought to a local hospital, where the security forces continued to stand guard over him.
In another operation in the eastern province of Tunceli on September 16, 2015 , İsmail Aydemir, the alleged PKK member responsible for Tunceli, was killed.
The so-called northern region of the HPG consists of almost all of Turkey's northeastern, eastern, and southwestern provinces, including the provinces of Ağrı, Bingöl, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Hakkari, Kars, Mardin and Şırnak; in addition to the Amanos Mountains in the southern province of Hatay.