Turkish authorities on Wednesday pressed ahead with countrywide operations against suspected Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) members, detaining 125 people in simultaneous raids across 25 provinces.
In the past week, police have taken hundreds of ISIS suspects into custody in countrywide raids aimed at preventing possible attacks during Christmas and New Year’s festivities
Members of a suspected ISIS cell opened fire on police carrying out one such raid in the northwestern province of Yalova on Monday. Six ISIS 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 co-ordinated 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.
ISIS has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey, most notably a shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s Day celebrations on Jan. 1, 2017, which killed 39 people.
WATCH | Istanbul nightclub shooting (from 2017):
CBC’s il Köksal reports near the scene of a New Year’s party where a gunman shot and killed at least 39 people
Turkey has conducted similar large‑scale operations against suspected ISIS members in previous years, but the latest sweep comes against the backdrop of an apparent global resurgence, marked by a recent ISIS-inspired attack in Australia and strikes on U.S. forces in neighbouring Syria.
The U.S. military said Tuesday that nearly 25 operatives of ISIS 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 ISIS weapons sites and infrastructure on Dec. 19, which hit 70 targets across central Syria.
Syrian security forces have also launched operations against ISIS 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 ISIS leader in the Damascus area, was captured and Mohammed Shahadeh, a senior ISIS commander in Syria, was killed.
