Operation Heroes-49: Turkey detains 147 people suspected of links to Islamic State group

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday that authorities have detained 147 people suspected of having ties to terrorist group Islamic State in ‘Operation Heroes-49’ across 33 provinces. The Islamic State group has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Turkey over the last decade, including a shooting at an Istanbul night club on Jan. 1, 2017, killing 39 and the bombing of a peace march in Ankara in October 2015 that killed some 105 people. The “Operation Heroes-49”, was carried out simultaneously across the country, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X.

3️⃣3️⃣ İlde DEAŞ Terör Örgütüne yönelik eş zamanlı olarak gerçekleştirilen “KAHRAMANLAR-49” operasyonlarında 1️⃣4️⃣7️⃣ şüpheli yakalandı❗

Aziz Milletimizin huzuru, birlik ve beraberliği için teröristlerin hiçbirine göz açtırmayacağız. Güvenlik güçlerimizin üstün gayretleriyle… pic.twitter.com/eTS4sN6nch

— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) February 8, 2024

Last month, Turkish police detained 70 suspects with ties to the militant Islamic State group in raids this week across the country. In late December, Turkish security forces detained 32 suspected IS militants that the state-run Anadolu news agency said were allegedly planning attacks on synagogues, churches and the Iraqi Embassy. A week earlier, police rounded up 304 suspected IS militants in simultaneous raids across Turkey in what appeared to be a security sweep leading up to the New Year festivities. With inputs from agencies.