Zeynep Sevim, a terrorist in charge of the PKK’s munitions supplies, was eliminated by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Iraq, security sources said Monday.
Sevim, code-named “Ruken Zilan,” was “neutralized” in a rural part of Iraq’s Duhok, sources said, using an official term for terrorists captured dead or alive.
She was responsible for supplying munitions to the PKK members plotting attacks against Turkish security forces. Sevim joined the terrorist group in 2014 and was in charge of “logistics” for the PKK during the group’s attacks against security forces in Iraq’s Metina, Gara and Avashin regions in 2016, 2017 and 2019. She was one of the PKK members in charge of the terrorist group’s “arsenal” when it targeted Turkish forces during Claw-Lock operations.
Sevim was also the sister of Fatma Sevim, who was eliminated in a counterterrorism operation against the PKK in the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli in 2012.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, Britain and the European Union – is responsible for over 40,000 civilian and security personnel deaths in Türkiye during an almost four-decadelong campaign of terror.
Since Turkish operations have driven its domestic presence to near extinction, the PKK has moved a large chunk of its operations to northern Iraq.
Ankara maintains dozens of military bases there, and it regularly launches operations against the PKK, which operates a stronghold in the Qandil Mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Turkish border in Irbil province, although the area is under de jure control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Both MIT and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in these regions, particularly in northern Iraq, where the PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which they carry out attacks against Türkiye.
In the last few years, the operations intensifying in northern Iraq have demolished terrorist lairs in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After eradicating the group’s influence in these regions, Türkiye also aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour.
Source: Daily Sabah
