PKK Still Present in Gara and Khwakurk, Source Says

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has evacuated several tunnels on Mount Matin and left the positions to Turkish forces, but its fighters remain active in the area and have not withdrawn from the Gara and Khwakurk mountains, a source in Amedi told Kurdistan24 on Sunday.

The source said PKK fighters had left several tunnel positions on Mount Matin, allowing Turkish troops to move into and deploy inside them.

The development, however, does not amount to a complete PKK withdrawal from Mount Matin, according to the source.

PKK fighters remain in areas around the mountain, while armed units affiliated with the group continue moving through the surrounding terrain, the source said.

The source also rejected reports suggesting that the PKK had withdrawn from the Gara and Khwakurk mountain areas.

Those reports are "completely far from the truth," the source said, adding that PKK fighters remain present in both locations and have not retreated.

Mount Matin, Gara and Khwakurk are among the mountainous border areas stretching across parts of Duhok and Erbil provinces that have witnessed repeated fighting between Turkish forces and PKK fighters in recent years.

The continuing conflict has also affected nearby civilian communities.

Over several years, the presence of PKK fighters near villages, combined with repeated Turkish airstrikes and artillery attacks, has contributed to the evacuation of hundreds of villages in border areas.

Residents have also lost vineyards and orchards to fires linked to the fighting, while dozens of civilians have been killed in Amedi district and other parts of the Kurdistan Region's border areas.

The latest account therefore points to a change in control over several tunnel positions on Mount Matin rather than a broader withdrawal of PKK forces from the main mountainous areas where the group remains present.