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Six IS militants, three police killed in clash in Turkey
A clash between Islamic State militants and Turkish police in northwest Turkey on Monday left six militants and three police officers dead, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
The shootout took place in the Elmali district of Yalova province, south of Istanbul, when police raided a house where the militants were hiding. At least eight other police officers and a night guard were wounded in the operation.
Special forces units from neighboring Bursa province were sent to support the raid, the minister said.
Yerlikaya said the Yalova operation was part of more than 100 simultaneous raids carried out against suspected IS members across 15 provinces in Turkey.
He said the operation was conducted with “great care” as women and children were inside the house. Five women and six children were safely evacuated, he added, noting that all the militants involved were Turkish nationals.
The operation began around 2 am local time and was officially concluded at 9:40 am, the minister said.
The Yalova Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation, assigning five prosecutors to the case, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said in a post on X. He said five people were taken into custody as part of the probe, without providing further details.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed condolences for the slain police officers and vowed to continue the fight against extremist groups.
“We will continue our fight against the blood-stained killers who threaten our nation’s peace and our state’s security, both within our borders and beyond, with determination and without compromise,” Erdogan said in a statement.
As the confrontation spilled into surrounding streets, five schools in the area were closed for the day, local media reported. Authorities also cut off gas and electricity supplies as a precaution and restricted civilian access to the neighborhood.
Last week, Turkish police detained 115 suspected IS militants in nationwide raids over alleged plans to carry out attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations.
IS has carried out several deadly attacks in Turkey in recent years, including a mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations in 2017 that killed 39 people, reports UNB.