06 February 2017•Update: 07 February 2017
ANKARA
Turkish police have arrested 820 suspects in a week-long operation targeting Daesh terrorists, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
On Sunday, police detained 763 suspects in a simultaneous operation across 29 provinces, Ankara police said in a statement.
According to Monday’s statement, the operation was carried out following a long-term investigation into people and groups with potential connects to Syria and Iraq. Those detained are thought to have been involved in planning attacks and recruitment.
Documents, digital material, two handguns, four rifles and 372 rounds of ammunition were seized in raids, the statement added.
The operation follows a series of Daesh-linked terror attacks on Turkey, most recently the New Year’s Eve shooting at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul that killed 39 people. The suspected gunman in the attack was arrested on Jan. 16.
The ministry added that 165 operations were carried out against the PKK over the same period, resulting in the arrest of 287 people suspected of aiding the terror group. Of these, 29 have been jailed pending trial.
More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.
The week also saw the arrest of 701 suspects linked to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization said to have been behind last July’s attempted coup. Nearly a tenth -- 73 -- were remanded in custody.
Twenty-one people thought to be tied to far-left terror groups were arrested, with two remanded for trial.
The operation led to the capture of five wanted terrorists as well as seven who surrendered to security forces.
Reporting by Mehmet Tosun;Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
