Ankara, Jan 1 The Turkish National Intelligence Organisation has "neutralised" a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) responsible for killing Turkish diplomat Osman Kose in northern Iraq, the media reported.
Kose, serving at Turkey's Consulate General in Erbil, was gunned down at a restaurant in the Iraqi city in 2019, Xinhua news agency reported.
Cemil Akar, code-named Renas Derik, was one of the perpetrators of the Turkish diplomat's assassination, the the semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted anonymous security sources as saying on Sunday.
Following the assassination, Turkish intelligence followed Akar, who first moved from Erbil to Iraq's Sulaymaniyah region, and then to Qandil region, according to the sources.
In the recent air operations carried out jointly by the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Iraq, several PKK targets were destroyed, and Akar was among the militants being killed, Anadolu reported.
The PKK militant allegedly crossed from Turkey to Syria and Iraq after 2014, joined the rural ranks of the group and was involved in its activities in the Makhmur region of Iraq.
Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralise" in their statements to imply the alleged "terrorists" have either surrendered, been killed, or been captured.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and the EU, has rebelled against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
--IANS
int/khz
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