Turkey detains 125 more ISIS suspects in nationwide sweep, minister says

Turkey has detained scores of people suspected of affiliation with the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group during nationwide raids, the interior minister announces on X.

“We captured 125 Daesh suspects in simultaneous operations carried out in 25 provinces this morning,” Ali Yerlikaya says, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Turkey has staged a number of raids targeting suspects after three police officers were killed Monday during an operation against the extremist group in Yalova in the northwest.

The hours-long clash also left six ISIS members dead, all Turkish nationals.

Yesterday, the security forces arrested 357 people during another operation targeting ISIS.

Today’s raids took place in Istanbul and 24 other provinces including Ankara and Yalova, the minister says.

“25 ilde bu sabah eş zamanlı olarak Jandarmamız ve Polisimiz tarafından düzenlenen operasyonlarımızda; 125 DEAŞ şüphelisini yakaladık.”

Afyonkarahisar, Ankara, Aydın, Bursa, Eskişehir, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Mersin, Uşak, İstanbul, Niğde, Sakarya, Kastamonu, Kocaeli,… pic.twitter.com/9rw4jRleWW

— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) December 31, 2025

Yerlikaya shares a video excerpt in which the security forces raided several suspects’ homes, some of whom could be seen with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

“Those who seek to harm our brotherhood, our unity, our togetherness… will only face the might of our state and the unity of our nation,” he writes.