Senior PKK terrorist sought by red notice caught

ANKARA - İhlas News Agency

Two terrorists, one of them Necati Utku Kiraz, who is code-named Azat Kendal and was sought by an Interpol red notice, were neutralized in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, the Interior Ministry has announced.

Kiraz, who was active in the “special forces” within the organization and on the “orange list” for “most wanted terrorists,” was mentioned in the judicial investigation carried out regarding the March 13, 2016 attack in the Güvenpark, a major public transportation hub in Ankara, which was carried out using an explosives-laden vehicle, leaving 38 people dead and 349 others injured, according to officials.

The ministry also pointed out that he was also one of the perpetrators of the attack in which two citizens lost their lives with the explosion of an improvised explosive device installed on the road in the eastern province of Bingöl’s Genç district in 2021, and the rocket attack at a police station in Lice in 2019.

The code-name of the other terrorist neutralized was Mazlum.

The Diyarbakır Police Department launched operations following the information that two terrorists were preparing an action in the Daralan village of Lice, the ministry said in a written statement.

After the images of the terrorists were taken with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), one of the terrorists was neutralized as a result of the operation carried out with armored vehicles, while the other was neutralized with the support of air elements and an attack helicopter.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on his Twitter account that they had been after Kiraz for a long time.

Meanwhile, five PKK/YPG terrorists, including a woman, were neutralized by a UAV in a vehicle in Mosul, Iraq.

The vehicle was hit near the Damascus gate, west of Mosul, according to the anti-terror units of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“Neutralized” is a term used by the Turkish military and officials to indicate militants were either killed, wounded, or captured. The ministry ranks those included on the list in five color-coded categories from red (most wanted) to blue, green, orange and grey.