Metin Arslan, an intelligence official for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), was killed in an operation conducted by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in northern Iraq, the Demirören news agency (DHA) reported.
Arslan, who is known by the codename “Koşer,” is the cousin of jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, according to DHA.
Arslan reportedly masterminded a number of terrorist attacks in Turkey. He became the YPG official responsible for foreign intelligence services in 2012 and the commander of the YPG base in Syria’s Karaçok in 2015.
Ankara views the YPG as terrorists due to their links to the PKK, which has been waging a bloody insurgency in Turkey’s Southeast since 1984.
