Turkey: 23 suspects detained in operation against PKK's youth branch YDG-H

Turkish police have detained 23 suspects under the scope of an operation carried out against terrorist organization PKK's youth branch Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H) in İzmir and Adana.

Dawn raids were conducted simultaneously in İzmir's Menemen and Torbali districts with the participation of 500 police officers.

Police have confiscated weapons including guns and pump rifles, as well as organizational documents.

Suspects were taken to the Counterterrorism Branch of İzmir Police.

On August 7, the YDG-H raided a wedding in southeastern Diyarbakır province and attacked police forces with stun grenades and fireworks.

Turkish police launched large-scale investigations to capture the masked and armed terrorists which fled the region after the attack.

Previously on July 7, Turkish Police detained 11 suspects in connection with the PKK's youth movement group (YDG-H) in operations carried out in three cities throughout Turkey.

In fresh anti-terror raids on Tuesday, Turkish security forces have taken into custody three suspects in Istanbul during an operation carried one day after the Sultanbeyli police station attack in which the PKK later claimed responsibility.

According to police sources, anti-terror squads conducted early morning raids in various locations in Sultanbeyli district, where a police station was attacked on Monday. A police officer was killed in the attack.

Several organizational documents and guns have been seized during the raid, said police.

No details on the three suspects have been disclosed yet.

Police have been carrying out nationwide anti-terror operations to apprehend suspected PKK, ISIS, and DHKP-C militants - all three are designated terrorist organizations in Turkey. The latter, the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, was allegedly involved in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul on Monday.

Since July 24, around 1,600 people have been arrested in the wave of counter-terrorism raids, amid a spike in attacks targeting security officers after the July 20 deadly suicide bombing in southeastern Suruç district that killed 32.