16 MLKP suspects detained in Turkish anti-terror raids

ISTANBUL

Six more suspects have been detained by police as part of Istanbul-based anti-terror operations targeting an ultra-left militant group, bringing the total number of arrests to 16.

The detainees are thought to be linked to the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, or MLKP.

Anti-terror squads, backed up by police helicopters, raided 20 locations in 15 districts including Bayrampasa, Eyup, Umraniye and Atasehir across Istanbul early Friday morning, police sources said.

The same operation also targeted addresses in five other Turkish provinces, including Ankara and Diyarbakir.

Ece Simsek, a press advisor to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Figen Yuksekdag and Cagdas Kucukbattal, a HDP candidate in Turkey’s June 7 election, were among those detained, according to security force sources.

The MLKP, which was founded in 1994, is on a list of ‘primary terror organizations continuing their activities in Turkey’, held by the police.

Last July, the organization attempted to bomb the headquarters of Star Media Group in Istanbul. Bomb-disposal experts destroyed the device in a controlled explosion.

In a separate anti-terror raid last night, Istanbul police detained three PKK suspects in a house in Sancaktepe district, where one female suspect, aged 19, believed to be preparing a suicide attack, was killed during a shootout.

Three firearms, ammunition and organizational documents were also seized during the operation.