UPDATE - 2 PKK terrorists killed in southern Turkey

UPDATED WITH IDENTITY OF WANTED TERRORIST; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Salim Tas and Orhan Gungor

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - Turkish security forces on Monday killed at least two PKK terrorists in the southern Hatay province, according to the governor’s office.

In a statement, the office said the terrorists were killed in a gendarmerie command operation in Hatay’s Hassa district.

Two Kalashnikov rifles were also seized in the operation, which is still in progress, it added.

Meanwhile, the identity of a senior PKK terrorist suspect who was killed in an operation in Agri, eastern Turkey last Thursday was revealed, said a security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Mehmet Salih Guvercin, codenamed “Piso,” was one of five terrorists killed in a Nov. 16 operation, the source added.

Guvercin, allegedly a so-called senior figure in the terrorist PKK’s Karayazi and Eleskirt districts, was on the Interior Ministry’s most wanted terrorist list.

The source said that Guvercin extorted money from Turkish citizens in an area between eastern Turkey’s Kars and Mus provinces in 2014-2015.

During the operation in Agri, a number of weapons were also seized by Turkish security forces, the source added.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the U.S., and the EU. In its three-decade-plus terror campaign against Turkey, more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Since the group resumed its armed campaign in July 2015, more than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives.