Turkish forces kill PKK terrorist on most-wanted list

By Orhan Onur Gemici and Sertac Bulur

ANKARA

Turkish security forces have said they killed a PKK terrorist on their most-wanted list in an operation in eastern Turkey on Tuesday.

The operation in Bitlis province saw the death of Ali Ulas who was also known by the code name ‘Kia Kocer’.

Ulas was a senior figure of the terror group in Hizan district and was one of its five-member executive board for what it calls ‘Garzan province’.

He was in the ‘green category’ of the Turkish Interior Ministry's most-wanted.

Ulas was killed along with another PKK terrorist in the Seyhhabip Tepe area of Esen neighborhood at 7.30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT).

Security forces also confiscated a bixi machine gun and four AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles during the operation.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.