Turkish intelligence kills senior YPG member in Syria

Ankara, Dec 6 (IANS) Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has killed a senior member of the outlawed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

As a senior YPG member in Ayn Issa town, Siham Mislih, codenamed "Mizgin Kobani", was involved in the group's attacks against Turkey's "Operation Peace Spring" zone, Xinhua news agency quoted anonymous security sources as saying on Monday.

On November 20, Turkey carried out an aerial operation against the YPG in Syria and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq.

The military action came after a bomb explosion in Turkey's largest city Istanbul on November 13 that killed six people and injured 81 others.

After the attack, Turkish police said they had detained a Syrian woman named Ahlam Albashir, who admitted to taking orders from the YPG, which Ankara considered to be the Syrian branch of the PKK.

Turkey will launch a ground operation into northern Syria "at the most convenient time" to build a security strip, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in late November.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union, has rebelled against the Ankara government for over three decades.