Defense minister: Soldiers found bodies of 13 people held by PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan

Photo: AA

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The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has concluded its military operation in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq's north, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar announced today (February 14).

The "Operation Claw Eagle-2," the latest in a series of cross-border operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was launched on February 10.

Soldiers found the dead bodies of 13 people who had been held by the PKK during a search in a cave in the mountainous Gara (Garê) area, Akar said.

Twelve of them were shot in the head and one was in the shoulder, he noted.

The kidnapping of the people had not been previously confirmed for "security reasons" and the operation was launched after intelligence about their location was obtained, he added.

While Akar did not specify whether the captives were civilians or military officers, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said on Twitter that "PKK executed 13 civilians."

The Mesopotamia Agency reported that nine of the killed people were police officers and soldiers who had been kidnapped by the PKK between 2015 and 2019 and announced their names as Sedat Sorgun, Ümit Gıcır, Semih Özbey, Adil Kabaklı, Müslüm Altıntaş, Mevlut Kahveci, Sedat Yabalak, Süleyman Sungur and Hüseyin Sarı.

It also said two of the captives were National Intelligence Agency (MİT) members who were previously kidnapped by the PKK in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, in August 2017.

Akar further said that 48 PKK members were killed and two were captured alive while three soldiers lost their lives.

More than 50 targets, including shelters, bunkers and ammunition depots, were destroyed by airstrikes during the four-day operation, said the minister.

Since May 2019, Turkey has now carried out six military operations in the KRG territory against the PKK, which are named "Operations Tiger and claw-Eagle" and has set up several military bases in the KRG's north, near the border with Turkey(RT/VK)