Turkey detains 357 suspects after 'Islamic State' clashes

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Tuesday said police had detained 357 suspects in a nationwide operation targeting the extremist "Islamic State" (IS) militant group.

Raids across the country came after a major clash in the northwestern city of Yalova, where three police officers and six suspected militants were killed during an eight-hour standoff.

In a post on the platform X, Yerlikaya said the raids had involved the chief public prosecutor's office, the national police's counterterrorism department, intelligence officials, and provincial police departments.

"This morning, in 21 provinces, we apprehended 357 suspected ISIS members in simultaneous operations conducted by our police."

"Just as we have never given opportunities to those trying to bring this homeland to its knees through terrorism up to this day, we will never give them opportunities in the future either!”

The firefight in Yalova, on the coast of the Marmara Sea, was part of a wider operation on Monday in which security forces targeted more than 100 locations nationwide.

The confrontation spread into the streets, with five schools in the area closed and natural gas and electricity supplies shut off as a precaution.

Officials said more than 100 suspected Islamic State members had already been detained last week over alleged plans to carry out attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Turkey has intensified operations against suspected Islamic State fighters this year. The group was blamed for a series of deadly attacks on civilian targets nearly a decade ago, including assaults on an Istanbul nightclub and the city's main airport that killed dozens of people.

Turkey was once a key transit route for foreign fighters traveling to and from Syria. While only a limited number of attacks have occurred since the wave of violence between 2015 and 2017, police have continued to conduct regular operations against suspected IS cells.