Ankara, May 11 (IANS): Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) killed a senior member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the fifth one in a week, in a cross-border operation in Iraq.

Turkish intelligence "neutralised" special forces operative of the group Muslum Urper, code-named Soro Guyi, in Iraq's Gara region, Xinhua quoted state-run Anadolu news agency as saying in a report citing security sources.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralised" to imply that "terrorists" are killed, wounded, or captured in security operations.

Urper, who joined the PKK in 2013, took part in street protests in Turkey and then crossed to Syria where he participated in several attacks against Turkish forces, the agency reported.

The PKK member crossed into Iraq in 2015 and was under the surveillance of Turkish intelligence for carrying weapons and ammunition in attacks against the security forces of Turkey.

The MIT has intensified its cross-border operations in Iraq recently, particularly in Gara, and killed at least four other senior PKK members in the region over one week.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to eliminate the PKK that is based in Iraq's Qandil Mountains.

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