Kurdistan Region Security Council uncovers ‘dangerous plot’ by PKK
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a video statement on Tuesday evening, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) declared that its forces disrupted a dangerous plot by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and seized a large amount of explosives and military equipment.
“In their continuous efforts to provide stability and security to Kurdistan Region and its citizens, the KRSC security forces on April 17 2022 seized a ton of explosives of type (PETN), 10 anti-tank Konkurs missiles, 23 motors of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV), 1200 Gas Masks, and 375 magazines of AK-47 in the Dohuk province.”
“During the interrogations with the accused Younis Ahmed Qasim Sleman, it was revealed that the accused received all the above,” the council said.
In a recorded confession, Younis, a taxi driver who travels between Duhok and Mosul, said he received weapons from Rodi, a military official of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“Rodi said the materials are explosives, missiles, TNT, and masks, he told me to store them at my storage until PKK members come and receive them,” the taxi driver said in the video statement. “I told Rudi it has become almost a ton of materials, when will they come and get them? He said they will come soon because they need these materials.”
“He (Rodi) said they will use them for conducting operations inside the Kurdistan Region. We planned to deliver the materials to the PKK on April 17th, but as we tried to deliver them, the security forces arrested us.”
Security officials in the video say the PETN is an explosive material used for penetrating iron and steel. “In addition to military purposes, it is used in making IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and VBIEDs (Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices),” an official stated.
Last year, the KRSC released a video of a man describing his personal history as a commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). In the video, he spoke about the party's aggressive policy toward the autonomous region of Iraq.
The video, similar to other confession videos released by the KRSC in the past, showed the commander, named Inan Ahmed Mirza Chelik, explaining that he witnessed multiple PKK plots against the Peshmerga or other security forces.
The PKK has been locked in a decades-long conflict with Ankara over Kurdish rights in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. The group is headquartered in the Kurdistan Region's Qandil Mountains, running along the Turkish and Iranian borders.
On April 18, Turkey announced its latest cross-border incursion into Iraq, codenamed Operation Claw-Lock. The air-and-ground military operation targets suspected PKK positions in the Zab, Basiyan, Avasheen, and Korajiwar in the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province.