Turkish intelligence 'neutralizes' local PKK/YPG terrorist ringleader in northern Syria

Türkiye's national intelligence agency "neutralized" the ringleader of the PKK/YPG terror group in the northern Syrian city of Ayn al-Arab, security sources said on Monday.

In a cross-border operation, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) "neutralized" Mutlu Kacar, codenamed Karker Andok, the terror group's top member in the Ayn al-Arab district, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Kacar, who joined the terrorist organization in 1997 and engaged in terrorist activities in the Haftanin region of northern Iraq in 2009, sustaining injuries to his hand and eye in clashes with security forces.

Having operated as a self-proclaimed head of the Makhmur Rustem Cudi Camp in northern Iraq in 2013, Syria's Tel Rifaat region in 2015, and as the so-called chief of local forces in Tel Rifaat for the PKK/YPG in 2020, Kacar assumed the role of ringleader of Ayn al-Arab for the PKK/YPG earlier this year.

In 2022, he was went to Al-Malikiyah in northeastern Syria. The year before, he ordered a terrorist attack on a convoy of Turkish security forces operating in the Euphrates Shield Operation area in northern Syria, resulting in the death of two soldiers on July 24, 2021.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

The operation that "neutralized" Kacar, who had long been under surveillance by security forces, came after the MIT pinpointed his location in Syria.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU - has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian branch.