Turkish police capture 11 Daesh suspects in Istanbul
Two police officers escort a captured suspect in this AI-enhanced photo, Istanbul, Türkiye, May 7, 2026. (DHA Photo)


Eleven suspected members of the terrorist group Daesh were captured in operations across Istanbul on Thursday.

Authorities said the suspects were also involved in Daesh propaganda on social media.

In the early hours of Thursday, counterterrorism and intelligence teams of police raided several locations simultaneously in the city to capture the suspects.

Türkiye considers the Daesh terrorist group one of the biggest threats to the country’s security and peace and was one of the first countries to declare it a terrorist group in 2013. It has suffered from several Daesh attacks since then, including a suicide bombing in an Ankara train station that killed 100 people in 2015 and a deadly Istanbul nightclub shooting on New Year’s Eve in 2017.

On April 7, suspected Daesh members fired at police officers near a building housing the Israeli Consulate. One assailant was killed, and two others were injured in the ensuing shootout, while two police officers were slightly injured. Although Daesh was not officially named as behind the attack, following the incident, authorities launched a nationwide sweep against the terrorist group and detained dozens of suspects. Last December, Daesh members killed three Turkish police officers during an operation targeting a house where suspects resided in the northwestern city of Yalova.