Police raids in 26 districts of Istanbul

2015-07-24 09:22:18

ISTANBUL (DİHA) - Thousands of police have launched raids in 26 districts of Istanbul and have taken many into custody.

Backed up by helicopters, police raided addresses in 26 Istanbul districts in search of members of ISIS at dawn on July 24. In the western provinces of İzmir and Bursa, a total of 16 people were arrested in the initial operation. Some 5,000 police officers joined the raids in 140 addresses in Istanbul. The total number arrested was not immediately clear.

The raids came after 32 people were killed in a suicide bombing Monday in a Turkish town on the Syrian border, blamed on ISIS. This sparked an upsurge in violence in Kurdish-dominated southeast, where many accuse the Turkish authorities of collaborating with ISIS.

The July 24 police raids targeted the YDG-H (Patriotic Democratic Youth Movement), too, according to some reports.

(nt)