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Turkish authorities on Wednesday continued nationwide operations against suspected members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), detaining 125 people in simultaneous raids in 25 provinces.
Over the past week, police have detained hundreds of ISIS suspects in raids across the country aimed at preventing possible attacks over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
On Monday, members of a suspected ISIS cell opened fire on police who were conducting one such raid in the northwestern province of Yalova. Six ISIS suspects and three policemen were killed in the clash, while eight other policemen and a night watchman were wounded when security forces stormed a house used as a hideout. Authorities said all the militants were Turkish nationals.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the raids since Wednesday 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.
ISIS has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey, the most famous being the shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations on January 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed.
CBC’s il Köksal reports near the site of a New Year’s Eve party where a gunman shot and killed at least 39 people
Turkey has carried out similar large-scale operations against suspected ISIS members in previous years, but the latest crackdown comes against the backdrop of an apparent global resurgence, marked by a recent ISIS-inspired attack in Australia and strikes against US forces in neighboring Syria.
The US military said on Tuesday that nearly 25 ISIS operatives had been killed or captured in Syria this month after an ambush that killed two US soldiers and an American civilian translator.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, told X in a statement that the 11 missions were conducted over the past 10 days and followed initial strikes on ISIS weapons sites and infrastructure on December 19, which hit 70 targets across central Syria.
Syrian security forces have also launched operations against ISIS in recent days, including two attacks on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital. In those raids, Syrian officials said Taha al-Zoubi, identified as an ISIS leader in the Damascus area, was captured and Mohammed Shahadeh, a senior ISIS commander in Syria, was killed.
