Amid a nationwide operation launched last week against suspected members of the Islamic State, Turkey arrested 125 people this Wednesday (31) in simultaneous raids in 25 provinces. The previous day, similar actions arrested 357, in a government effort to prevent possible attacks during the year-end festivities.
Last week, the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office said authorities had detained 115 suspects who were allegedly planning attacks on non-Muslims during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country.
During police raids on Monday (29), members of an alleged IS cell opened fire on agents in the province of Yalova, in northwestern Turkey. Six suspects and three police officers were killed in the confrontation, when security forces invaded the house used as a hideout. Authorities said all suspects were Turkish citizens.
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IS carried out a series of deadly attacks in Türkiye. One of the biggest was the shooting attack in an Istanbul nightclub on January 1, 2017 – terrorists killed 39 people.
Resurgence
Turkey has already carried out similar large-scale operations against suspected IS members, but the latest campaign comes against a backdrop of an apparent global resurgence, marked by a recent IS-inspired attack in Australia and attacks on US forces in Syria.
The US military said on Tuesday that 25 members of the group had been killed or captured in Syria this month following the ambush that killed two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said 11 missions had been carried out in recent days, following initial strikes against IS weapons facilities and infrastructure on the 19th, which hit 70 targets in central Syria.
In recent days, Syrian security forces have also launched operations against IS, including raids on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
The terrorist group has already controlled large areas of Syria and Iraq – both countries that border Turkey – and inspired attacks around the world. The group lost its last territorial stronghold in Syria in 2019, but has continued to operate on a smaller scale in parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa. (WITH INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES)
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The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
