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Senior Kurdish PKK commander killed in Syria

09 July 2016 20:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group has been killed in a bomb attack on a car in which he was traveling in northeast Syria, APA reports quoting Anadolu agency.

If confirmed, the killing of Fehman Huseyin would be a major blow to the PKK, which been fighting in southeast Turkey since a two-year-old ceasefire collapsed a year ago. Thousands of militants, security force members and civilians have died in the conflict since.

Huseyin, a Syrian Kurd known in Turkey by the code name Bahoz Erdal, was killed on Friday evening as he traveled to the northern Syrian city of Qamishli, Anadolu said.

It cited a spokesman of a Syrian rebel group it named as the Tel Khamis Brigades as the source for the report.

The spokesman, Khalid al Khasakewi, said at least eight people were killed in the car in which Huseyin was traveling and that the attack was carried out after tracking him for a long time.

"We dedicate this operation... to the Syrian people," Khasakewi was quoted as saying, indicating his group had carried out the attack.

While the PKK leadership is mainly based in the mountains of northern Iraq, the group is closely allied with the Kurdish YPG militia which operates in Syria. Turkey views both groups as terrorist organizations.