The Turkish National Intelligence Organization has "neutralized" a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) responsible for killing Turkish diplomat Osman Kose in northern Iraq, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported Sunday, Paralel.Az reports.

Kose, serving at Türkiye's Consulate General in Erbil, was gunned down at a restaurant in the Iraqi city in 2019.

Cemil Akar, code-named Renas Derik, was one of the perpetrators of the Turkish diplomat's assassination, the news agency quoted anonymous security sources as saying.

Following the assassination, Turkish intelligence followed Akar, who first moved from Erbil to Iraq's Sulaymaniyah region, and then to Qandil region, according to the sources.

In the recent air operations carried out jointly by the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Iraq, several PKK targets were destroyed, and Akar was among the militants being killed, Anadolu reported.