 in an operation largely targeting İstanbul, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.){kind=link}
Turkish counterterrorism police on Tuesday detained 110 people on suspicion of activities in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in an operation largely targeting İstanbul, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The suspects are accused of organizing classes in illegal associations, educating young children with ISIL ideology, collecting money for the group and seeking to recruit new ISIL members, in an operation coordinated by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The detentions came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in İstanbul, with police seizing four rifles and 90 cartridges along with documents and digital materials.
Last week police arrested another 324 people in raids targeting ISIL suspects across 47 provinces, the interior ministry said.
On April 7 a gunman was killed and two others were wounded in a shootout outside the Israeli Consulate General in İstanbul.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said one of them was linked to an “organization that exploits religion,” which Turkish media reported was ISIL.
At the end of December ISIL militants opened fire on police in the northwestern town of Yalova, killing three officers and wounding nine others.
Six ISIL militants were also killed in the hourslong gun battle that followed, with Turkey rounding up more than 600 suspected members of the group in the following weeks.