A member of the PKK terrorist group, who served as a bodyguard of the group’s ringleaders and was also in charge of the group’s logistics, was eliminated by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), security sources said Thursday.
The target was identified as Serhat Tagay, code-named “Mervan Hizan.” Sources said the operation took place in Iraq’s Gara region, a hotbed of the terrorist group.
Tagay had an arrest warrant and was identified as the name behind the supply network for explosives and weapons used in the terrorist group’s attacks targeting Türkiye security forces.
Sources said the terrorist joined the group in 2014 and underwent training between 2015 and 2016 in Iraq’s Gara before moving to the Zap region in 2017. While in Zap, he participated in attacks against Turkish security forces until 2019. He then relocated to Syria where the PKK’s wing YPG is based and remained there until 2021 before returning to Gara in 2022.
MIT stepped up its operations against terrorist groups abroad in recent years. Counterterrorism operations largely target PKK and its affiliates. They concentrate on northern parts of Türkiye’s neighbors Syria and Iraq, where the terrorist group exploits a security vacuum to operate freely. Turkish intelligence generally carries out precision airstrikes, employing drones, but occasionally, they bring terrorism suspects alive.