Shafaq News/ A senior leading figure of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) survived an assassination attempt, a source revealed on Thursday.

The source who preferred to remain anonymous told Shafaq News Agency that Chief of PUK's Executive Body, Mulla Bakhtiar, collapsed insidiously which required urgent medical care. "He was later transferred to a hospital in Berlin for surveillance and treatment. Laboratory studies showed that he ingested a fatal dose of a highly poisonous meterial."

The medical team in charge of Bakhtiar's case said that his condition is under control and improving.

Since July 2020, an internal conflict ravaged the PUK after Bafel Talabani toppled his partner in the party's leadership, Lahur Sheikh Jangi, and announcing himself a sole leader of the late Jalal Talabani's party.

Tensions culminated after the Kurdish party's Politburo accused Sheikh Jangi of planting a spy in Bafel's residence amid reports about an assassination attempt targeting the latter.