Turkish police detain 110 people in coordinated raids targeting Islamic State activities across three provinces, mainly in Istanbul.
ISTANBUL: Turkish counter-terror police on Tuesday arrested 110 people on suspicion of activities in support of the Islamic State (IS) group in an operation largely targeting Istanbul, the Anadolu state news agency said.
The suspects are accused of organising classes in illegal associations, educating young children with IS ideology, collecting money for the group and seeking to recruit new IS members, in an operation coordinated by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office.
The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centred in Istanbul, with police seizing four rifles and 90 cartridges along with documents and digital materials.
Last week, police arrested another 324 people in raids targeting IS suspects across 47 provinces, the interior ministry said.
On April 7, a gunman was killed and two others were wounded in a shootout outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.
Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said one of them was linked to an “organisation that exploits religion”, which Turkish media reported was IS.
At the end of December, IS militants opened fire on police in the northwestern town of Yalova, killing three officers and wounding nine others.
Six IS militants were also killed in the hours-long gun battle that followed, with Turkey rounding up more than 600 suspected members of the group in the following weeks.
