MİT neutralizes third PKK leader in one month

MARDİN

Turkish Intelligence Organization (MİT) has neutralized a PKK ringleader, Iranian citizen Rahime Xezali, in Syria in a third surgical strike against PKK local leaders in a month, local media has reported.

According to press reports published on June 5, Xezali was killed with two other terrorists in northern Syria’s Qamishli province on May 31.

Intelligence units identified Xezali, codenamed “Mizgin Botan,” and the other terrorists, Kesra Melek, Dicle Cudi and Hevidar Derbisiye, traveling with a vehicle and waited until the vehicle left residential zones.

When the vehicle was spotted in a rural area, the terrorists were hit by an armed drone, the reports said.

MİT officials had neutralized two other PKK local leaders, one in Syria and one in Iraq, with surgical strikes in May.

Ekrem Üstek, codenamed “Hayri,” was killed in the Ayn al-Arab neighborhood in Syria’s Aleppo province on May 15.

The news of the neutralization of Mehmet Doğan, codenamed “Dılhaz Gabar,” in northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province leaked to Turkish media on June 2.