Six militants from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), who were seen with AK-47s at Wednesday's funeral for two of their terrorist comrades accused of a series of bombings in Istanbul, have been detained, according to a statement issued by the Istanbul Governorship on Wednesday.
Together with the militants, two AK-47s, four ammunition clips, 60 cartridges and 60 9mm bullets were also confiscated in the operation, the statement said.
Masked gunmen taking to the streets with rifles at the funeral of Şirin Öter and Yeliz Erbay, who were killed in a dawn raid on Tuesday by anti-terror police when they opened fire on police squads closing in on them in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa district, was a display of force by the far-left militant organization.
The two women were also former executives of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, a fringe far-left party that Figen Yüksekdağ, a co-chair of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), once worked with.
Yüksekdağ, whose party is associated with the PKK, another terrorist organization, attended the funeral in Istanbul along with a large crowd in the city's working-class Gazi district where she gave a speech.
Öter and Erbay were allegedly behind a foiled bomb attack on the Star Media Group in July. An explosive device left at the headquarters of the media conglomerate was noticed before it detonated and was defused by police.
The MLKP claimed responsibility for the foiled attack on the media group, which is known for its anti-PKK coverage. The two women were also alleged masterminds of a deadly bomb attack on the offices of a magazine earlier this year. The attack on Adımlar magazine, known for its ties to the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (İBDA-C) militant group, killed a columnist in March. The two women were also blamed for a non-lethal bombing that targeted riot police in Istanbul earlier this month.
The MLKP, established in 1994, is designated as a terrorist organization. Its first major attack was in 2004 when a bomb planted by MLKP militants on a street near a hotel, where then U.S. President George W. Bush was staying, exploded, injuring several people.
The MLKP, unlike the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), enjoys close ties with the PKK, which pursues a more ultranationalist line. The group had training camps in a mountainous area in Northern Iraq where the PKK is headquartered.
