ANKARA, Turkiye: Three Turkish police officers were killed and nine others wounded in an operation Monday against the Islamic State group in the northwestern Turkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that six terrorists were also killed in the clash.
The fighting took place at Yalova on the Sea of Marmara during one of scores of raids against the terrorist group, the minister said. He added that six Islamic State terrorists were killed.
“Three of our courageous police unfortunately lost their lives. Eight police and a security agent were also wounded,” he added.
Yerlikaya said that “simultaneous operations” were staged on 108 addresses in 15 provinces, including at Yalova at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Sunday).
“During this operation, IS terrorists opened fire on our courageous police,” he said.
According to the minister, the six IS operatives killed were all Turkish and five women and six children who were with them were all evacuated safely.
“We are pursuing our fight against bloodthirsty criminals who threaten the peace of our nation and the security of our state, both inside and outside our borders, in a determined, multi-pronged and intractable fashion,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as he paid homage to the killed officers.
An Istanbul prosecutor last week ordered the detention of 137 suspected IS members following information that the terrorist group planned attacks during the end-of-year holidays.
Turkiye has a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Syria and is wary of cross-border infiltrations by terrorists.
IS was recently accused of killing two American soldiers and an interpreter in Palmyra in Syria.
Turkish intelligence also announced last week the arrest of a suspected IS leader who was said to be planning suicide attacks in the region and Europe.
