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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey has announced it "neutralized" two senior members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in an airstrike in the Gara region near Amedi, Duhok province.
Citing Turkey’s National Defense Ministry, state-run Anadolu Agency said the undated operation had been conducted following "coordinated action between the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)" and identified the two female PKK senior members as Servet Aydin and Soylemez Yasar.
It added the two PKK leaders were "most-wanted" and on Ankara's "red" target list of wanted terror suspects.
The PKK has not yet confirmed or denied the incident.
Residents have fled the mountainous Gara region, fearing continued Turkish and PKK activities in the area, said multiple local officials who could not confirm Turkey's statement.
The announcement comes just days after confirmation that two other senior PKK members were killed by a Turkish drone attack on Mount Azmar, overlooking the city of Sulaimani. "This is a dangerous violation, initiative and development that in no way serves shared security and co-existence," Sulaimani's security forces said of the attack.
This continues a series of successful Turkish operations against high ranking PKK members. On July 5, senior PKK official Diyar Ghareeb was also killed in a Turkish airstrike.
Turkey has been increasingly employing its own domestic-made drones to target the Kurdish guerilla organization, engaged in a four decade-long struggle with the Turkish state for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights.
Turkey considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization, and has increased airstrikes against the group over the past year.
A Turkey analyst for International Crisis Group (ICG), Berkay Mandıraci wrote that "over the past year, the death rate among PKK militants, and particularly in northern Iraq, has risen."
"Ankara’s stepped-up operations, involving curfews, drone strikes and more state security forces, have killed higher numbers of seasoned PKK figures in 2019 than in any of the previous three years of escalation," he added.
Turkey launched Operation Claw, now in its third phase, in the mountainous regions and border areas of the Kurdistan Region at the beginning of the year. The operation targets members of the PKK and its bases.
As of 4 October, ICG confirmed the deaths of 57 PKK militants and nine Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq since Operation Claw began.
Turkey also considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish forces in Northern Syria as an extension of the PKK, and it has waged a campaign it has termed “Operation Peace Spring” since October 9 to have Kurdish forces evicted from the border area.
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