Father says PKK holding missing son and friends in Duhok

Shafaq News/ A man in Duhok said his son and two friends, missing for over a week, are being held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) but are alive, according to a video shared by social media users on Saturday.

The father, from Shiladze village in al-Amadiyah district, posted the video on Friday claiming a PKK member contacted him, confirming the three young men, aged 25-30, are in their custody.

Shafaq News Agency could not independently verify the video or the PKK's involvement.

The men disappeared after leaving Shiladze about a week ago. The father urged locals to avoid social media speculation regarding the detainees' location and condition.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, Russia, the United States, and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

Senior Turkish and Iraqi officials held high-level talks in Baghdad earlier this month to discuss security issues including potential measures against the PKK, after Ankara warned of new military operations in the region.

Turkiye has conducted years of cross-border military operations against militants that have left roughly half the Syrian territory bordering Turkiye and all of Iraqi territory bordering Turkiye controlled or overseen by its military.