Turkish police arrested more than three hundred people suspected of belonging to the terrorist group “Islamic State” (IS) this Tuesday (December 30, 2025) in several raids a day after the shootout that left three agents and six suspected terrorists dead, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya reported.
“During simultaneous operations by our police this morning in 21 provinces, we arrested 357 suspected IS members,” the Turkish minister said on social media of the operation, which was coordinated by the general prosecutor’s offices, the anti-terrorism department and the intelligence department of the General Directorate of Security.
They searched for “bloodshed”
Istanbul prosecutors accuse some of the suspects arrested today of preparing attacks to turn New Year’s Eve celebrations into “bloodshed.” “Just as we never gave a chance to those who try to subjugate this country through terrorism, we will not give them a chance in the future either,” he added in X Yerlikaya.
The risk of attacks during the New Year holidays remains, which is why the authorities are taking extensive security measures and around 50,000 police officers are deployed in Istanbul, according to a statement from the Bosphorus city’s governor’s office. Türkiye has stepped up operations against suspected IS militants this year as the group regains global prominence. Last week he announced the arrest of 115 suspected IS members.
Some refer to yesterday’s confrontation
Today’s raids were carried out by the provincial police authorities in Adana, Agri, Ankara, Antalya, Bingöl, Çorum, Denizli, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Giresun, Kastamonu, Kilis, Konya, Mugla, Nigde, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, Sirnak, Yalova and Va, the minister said. In addition, 114 apartments were registered in Istanbul. The arrests came in the last few hours as part of police operations carried out since midnight, the semi-official Anadolu Agency said.
Authorities say at least 41 of those arrested in Istanbul are linked to the six suspected IS militants killed yesterday in a shootout with police in Yalova province in northwestern Turkey that also left three police officers dead and nine other officers injured.
LGC (EFE, RTR)
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