ISTANBUL: Turkey said it carried out operations against the militant Islamic State (IS) group across the country on Wednesday, detaining nearly 200 people, a day after three armed attackers launched an extended gun battle with police outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, in a post on X, said legal proceedings on suspects had begun and that operations against IS, the designated terrorist group, “will proceed meticulously”.
Ankara had not yet named a group it deemed responsible for the Tuesday attack, which left one assailant dead and the other two wounded.
Gurlek posted on X that officers had arrested 198 suspects in a simultaneous operation in 34 provinces against “the terrorist organisation Daesh”, another name for the IS group.
A gunman was killed and two others wounded in Tuesday’s shootout with police outside the consulate, with two officers lightly wounded.
Twelve of those arrested have been placed in pre-trial detention, including the two wounded gunmen, who were hospitalised, according to the justice ministry. No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s shootout.
Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2026