PKK: Six arrested by counter-terror police over links to group

Six people have been arrested by counter-terrorism police in London for suspected activity linked to the banned militant group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The Metropolitan Police said two women, aged 59 and 31, and four men, aged 27, 62, 56 and 23, were arrested at separate addresses in the early hours of Wednesday.

They have all been detained under the Terrorism Act and are in custody at a London police station.

There is not believed to be any imminent threat to the public linked to the matters under investigation, the force said.

The PKK is banned as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the US and UK, and has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s for greater rights for the country’s significant Kurdish minority.

Officers are carrying out searches at eight addresses across the capital, including the Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey, as part of the investigation.

The search is expected to last up to a fortnight, with the centre and surrounding area closed to the public in the meantime.

Extra officers will carry out patrols over the coming days, the Met said.

Acting Commander Helen Flanagan, from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said the arrests over the “very serious allegations” followed a “significant” investigation.

“This investigation and activity is about protecting all of our communities, but particularly those in our Turkish and Kurdish communities,” she added.

“I would urge anyone who thinks they may have been affected or targeted by those linked to the PKK to get in touch.”