A court in Yalova has formally arrested 26 suspects with alleged links to ISIS following a deadly shootout during a raid on Dec 29 raid that left three police officers dead.
Forty-two people were detained during simultaneous raids across the city in response to the incident, where militants responded to the police operation with fire. Three officers and six militants were killed in the clash that followed. Eight other officers and one neighborhood guard were injured. The operation targeted a suspected ISIS cell in a residential building in the rural neighborhood of İsmet Paşa.
Militants refused to evacuate women and children
The Interior Ministry stated that six ISIS members were killed in the exchange of fire. Five women and six children who were inside the house were safely evacuated.
According to the ministry, the operation lasted over seven hours as the suspects refused to allow the evacuation of the women and children.
A video that widely circulated on social media showed an officer asking a militant to release women and children as "you have no way out of here," but the militant refuses.
After processing at the police station and judicial review at Yalova Courthouse, 26 of the 42 detained individuals were formally arrested today. Sixteen others were released under judicial control.
The Dec 29 operation was part of a broader nationwide effort to disrupt alleged ISIS plans for attacks in multiple provinces ahead of the New Year. (VK)
