Turkey kills senior Syrian Kurdish leader in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah

Ankara is conducting a military operation against Turkish Kurd separatist militants in northern Iraq

Turkey said Hussein Shibli was the co-chairman of the Syrian autonomous administration central executive council of the PKK. Photo via Anadolu Agency

Turkish intelligence has killed a top Syrian Kurdish official in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday

Anadolu identified the official as Hussein Shibli, co-chairman of the executive council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and said he was killed in an operation by Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation.

The Anadolu report, which carried a photo wreckage of a car that appeared to have been bombed, did not give the exact location or circumstances of his death.

An official with the Kurdistan region anti-terrorism service told The National that Shibli was among four people killed in a drone strike on a car in Sulaymaniyah province’s Kalar town on Friday. A fifth person was injured.

Anadolu described Shibli as a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a separatist movement in Turkey, reflecting Ankara's position that Kurdish groups across the border in Syria are extensions of the PKK.

Designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its western allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Ankara has carried out a number of military operations against the PKK in Iraq's northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where the group has its main bases in the Qandil mountains. In recent months, Turkey has pushed more troops into Iraqi territory, while launching deeper strikes with either drones or fighter jets.

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released a statement on Sunday condemning the killing of Shibli, describing him as a “martyr” who played a key role as “a political leader in building and achieving organisational, intellectual and social construction projects” in Syria.

The SDF is supported by the US and played a key role in combating ISIS. It serves as the military wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, often referred to as Rojava.