PKK denies Turkish media reports of senior leader’s death

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkey’s Anadolu Agency claimed that a senior leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was killed in Syria on Friday evening, a claim denied by the PKK.

Anadolu Agency reported that Fehman Hüseyin, known as Bahoz Erdal, was killed when the car he was traveling in was blown up as he was driving from Qamishli, in Rojava, northern Syria, into Turkey. There were reportedly eight people in the vehicle according to Halid al-Hasekavi, a spokesperson for the Tel Hamis Brigade.

A spokesperson for the People’s Defence Forces (HPG), the military wing of the PKK, denied the reports.

This is not the first time Erdal’s death has been reported. In 2014, media reports claimed he was killed in Kobane.