Turkish security forces have killed a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who is on the country’s most wanted list, the third high-profile militant to be targeted this month. Okay Memis, the governor of the Black Sea province of Gumushane, said that Baris Oner, a PKK fighter of Turkish background code-named Tarik the Turk, had been killed along with another militant — an ethnic Iranian, code-named Sorej — in clashes with security forces in the rural Yesilkoy area of Gumushane on Aug. 22.

Turkish security officials quoted by the pro-government daily Sabah said Oner was the PKK commander in charge of the outfit’s Black Sea region operations and had a bounty of 4 million Turkish liras ($660,960) on his head. Operations were continuing in the area, with elite gendarmerie forces backed by attack helicopters searching for fleeing militants. Memis claimed the PKK had been immobilized in the Black Sea region as a result of the operation, which started three days ago.

In a related development, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that another key PKK commander, Yusuf Sungur, had been killed together with his deputy, Serbest Gun, in a weekend operation in the southeastern province of Sirnak. Before that, on Aug. 11, Ibrahim Coban, who was also on the Interior Ministry’s most wanted list, was killed in the province of Tunceli in what authorities called an “operation.” Details of his death were not revealed, but the successful targeting of top PKK leaders suggests that Turkish intelligence on the group is gaining ground. This in turn may be why the PKK has resumed assassinations of alleged "collaborators." Shopkeeper Mevlut Bengi was killed June 26 in the eastern province of Dogubayazit for his close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party.

News of Oner and Sungur’s deaths have yet to be confirmed by pro-PKK Firat News Agency, which typically records such “martyrdoms."