Officials have said three police officers have been killed and nine others injured fighting Islamic State (IS) operatives in northwestern Turkey on Monday, the country’s state-run news agency reports.
Turkish interior minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters six IS fighters were also killed after authorities launched an operation against the extremist group in the Yalova province, southeast of Istanbul, Anadolu Ajansı reported.
The officers killed in the “treacherous attack” were named by the minister as İlker Pehlivan, Turgut Külünk, and Yasin Koçyiğit. The “heroic” officers were killed in a “treacherous attack carried out by ISIS terrorists,” a post on the minister’s X account said.
Yerlikaya said eight police officers and a security guard were injured and five woman and six children were evacuated from the building, according to Turkish media.
Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) the country’s state agency for broadcast monitoring, said on Monday local courts in Yalova had imposed a “broadcasting ban” in connecting with the anti-IS operation.
“It is of utmost importance that no broadcasting be conducted other than the statements to be made by the official authorities,” the agency said.
Turkish officials said last week more than 100 people were arrested in connection with planning to carry out IS terrorist attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country. National media had reported days earlier that Ankara’s MIT intelligence agency had captured a senior IS member on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and brought the suspect to Turkey.
This is a developing story; more to follow.
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