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Turkey detains 357 Islamic State suspects in nationwide operation

Police fought militants in an eight-hour Yalova siege, days after IS suspects were held over holiday attack plots

Reuters December 31, 2025 1 min read

An armoured Turkish gendarmerie vehicle leaves the site where Turkish security forces launched an operation on a house believed to contain suspected Islamic State militants, and where, according to state media, seven officers were wounded in a clash, in Yalova province, Turkey, December 29, 2025.PHOTO: REUTERS

Turkish police detained 357 suspects in a nationwide operation against Islamic State on Tuesday, the interior minister said, a day after three police officers and six militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Türkiye.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities carried out raids in 21 provinces across the country.

"Just as we have never given an opportunity to those who try to bring this country to its knees with terrorism, we will never give them an opportunity in the future either," Yerlikaya said on X.

Earlier, the Istanbul prosecutor's office said police raided 114 addresses in Istanbul and two other provinces, seizing various digital materials and documents.

Police clashed with militants on Monday during an eight-hour siege at a house in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul. The clash came a week after more than 100 suspected IS members were detained over alleged plans to carry out Christmas and New Year attacks.

Eight police officers and another security force member were wounded in the raid, which was one of more than 100 addresses targeted by authorities on Monday.

Türkiye has stepped up operations against suspected IS militants this year as the group returns to prominence globally.

The United States said it carried out a strike against IS militants in northwest Nigeria last week. Australian police said two gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach this month appeared to be inspired by IS.

On Dec. 19, the US military launched strikes against dozens of IS targets in Syria in retaliation for an attack on American personnel.

Nearly a decade ago, IS was blamed for a series of attacks on civilian targets in Türkiye, including gun attacks on an Istanbul nightclub and the city's main airport, killing dozens of people. Türkiye was a key transit point for foreign fighters entering and leaving Syria during the war.

Police have carried out regular operations against the group in subsequent years, and there have been few attacks since the wave of violence between 2015 and 2017.