“Operation Heroes” was launched by Türkiye following Sunday’s terrorist attack that targeted police headquarters in the capital Ankara and led to the apprehension of dozens of terror suspects.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that 37 more suspects were captured in the nationwide operations, from Istanbul to Van in the eastern Türkiye.
The operations target the PKK, which was behind the Ankara attack. Yerlikaya said in a statement on social media that two terrorists trying to flee abroad from Ağrı, an eastern province near the border with Iran, were “neutralized.”
The Turkish government uses the term to describe terrorists captured dead or alive in operations.
The Interior Ministry also identified a second terrorist involved in the terror attack that injured two police officers. The ministry announced on Wednesday that the second man was Özkan Şahin, a member of the PKK.
One of the terrorists blew himself up after running toward the police building's main gate while firing while the other one was killed in a shootout with guards at the gate. The terrorists were also responsible for the murder of a young man in the central province of Kayseri who was killed by the duo as they stole his car to travel to Ankara.
