Turkish police detained 18 suspects Tuesday in coordinated raids across seven provinces as part of an investigation into attacks allegedly carried out by the far-left terrorist group DHKP-C, including firebombings of police vehicles and shootings in Istanbul, prosecutors said.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation focused on a series of attacks between 2016 and 2019, including Molotov cocktail attacks, gunfire targeting police facilities and the placement of a banner designed to resemble an explosive device.
Investigators identified 50 suspects have carried out or ordered the attacks after obtaining statements from two individuals cooperating with authorities under Türkiye’s effective remorse provisions.
According to prosecutors, the incidents included a March 31, 2016, firebomb attack on a police water cannon vehicle in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district, followed by Molotov cocktail attacks on police vehicles and gunfire targeting the Gazi Police Station on May 1, 2016.
Other incidents under investigation included the burning of a General Directorate of Highways facility in 2016 and the placement of a banner resembling an explosive device near the Bayrampaşa Riot Police Department on April 6, 2017.
The DHKP-C is an offshoot of an extremist Marxist-Leninist movement that emerged in the 1970s and has been responsible for a series of violent attacks over the decades, including the assassination of two politicians and several intelligence officials in 1980.
Authorities also linked the investigation to a 2019 shooting targeting an election campaign office of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Sultangazi.
Eleven of the 50 identified suspects were already in prison, while another 20 were believed to be abroad, prosecutors said.
Police subsequently launched simultaneous operations at 27 addresses, including 21 in Istanbul and others in Ankara, Hatay, Tunceli, Balıkesir, Manisa and Izmir, targeting 19 suspects.
Counterterrorism officers detained 18 suspects during the raids, while efforts to locate the remaining fugitive continued.