Turkey detains 125 more Islamic State suspects as nationwide sweep continues

Turkish authorities on Wednesday pressed ahead with nationwide operations against suspected Islamic State members, detaining 125 people in simultaneous raids across 25 provinces.

In the past week, police have taken hundreds of IS suspects into custody in nationwide raids aimed at preventing possible attacks during Christmas and New Year festivities

Members of a suspected IS cell opened fire on police carrying out one such raid in the northwestern province of Yalova on Monday. 

Six IS suspects and three police officers were killed in the clash, while eight other officers and a night guard were wounded when security forces stormed a house used as a hideout. Authorities said all of the militants were Turkish citizens.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Wednesday’s raids were coordinated by police and gendarmerie forces and were carried out in cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Yalova.

“Those who target our brotherhood, our unity, and our togetherness; those who try to exploit our faith and attack our values will face nothing but the power of our state and the unity of our nation,” Yerlikaya said in a social media post.

IS has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey, most notably a shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations on Jan. 1, 2017, which killed 39 people.

Turkey has conducted similar large‑scale operations against suspected IS members in previous years, but the latest sweep comes against the backdrop of an apparent global resurgence, marked by a recent IS-inspired attack in Australia and strikes on U.S. forces in neighboring Syria.

The U.S. military said Tuesday that nearly 25 operatives of the Islamic State group were killed or captured in Syria this month following the ambush that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said in a statement on X that 11 missions were carried out over the past 10 days and followed initial strikes against IS weapons sites and infrastructure on Dec. 19, which hit 70 targets across central Syria.

Syrian security forces have also launched operations against IS in recent days, including two raids on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital. In those raids, Syrian officials said Taha al-Zoubi, identified as the IS leader in the Damascus area, was captured and Mohammed Shahadeh, a senior IS commander in Syria, was killed.

Source: AP

--Agencies