363 terrorists neutralized since the beginning of 2019, Turkish interior minister says.

Axar.az reports citing AA that Turkey’s anti-terror Operation Kiran in the country’s southeast has “neutralized a total of 121 PKK terrorists and destroyed nearly 229 caves, shelters and warehouses, Turkish interior minister said on Wednesday.

“363 terrorists this year, and 1,144 terrorists in total were neutralized after identification of their locations by unmanned aerial vehicles," Suleyman Soylu told the members of Turkish parliament's planning and budget commission.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

In the first ten months of the current year, 289 terrorists surrendered to security forces by persuasion efforts, Soylu said.

On Aug. 17, Turkey launched Operation Kiran in the country's southeast against YPG/PKK terrorists in Van, Hakkari and Sirnak provinces, followed by the launch of Operation Kiran-2 on Aug. 27 in Mardin, Sirnak and Batman provinces. Four more iterations of the operation followed, including Operation Kiran-6, launched on Nov. 13.