Police detain 3 terrorists, seize explosives in İzmir


An İzmir police counterterrorism unit on Tuesday detained three Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) members. One of the suspects, who is a woman, reportedly received training for suicide bombing with the Syrian PKK affiliate Democratic Union Party's (PYD) People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani

Police also seized explosives and bomb-making materials in the operation.

The suspects were detained in İzmir police anti-terror operations in the Buca district.

They are reportedly members of the illegal left-wing organization MLKP's Armed Forces of the Poor and Oppressed (FESK).

The MLKP, which was founded in 1994, is on Turkey's list of primary terror organizations.

The PKK terrorist organization recently joined forces with eight other terrorist groups, including MLKP, to form a new alliance called the "Peoples' United Revolution Movement" (HBDH). The nine terrorist groups have reportedly been attempting to find common ground. The formation of the new alliance was announced during a meeting in the Qandil Mountains.

It has been previously reported that several far-left terrorist organizations had fought in YPG ranks during the fight against DAESH in October 2014 and militant transfer took place between terrorist organizations.

Turkish media also previously reported that the PKK and YPG decided to train MLKP militants to organize attacks in Turkey and allegedly settled nearly 50 militants in Kobani.

Quoting intelligence sources, Zeki Gürbüz, a senior MLKP leader, is also reportedly with the militants that were trained by the YPG. Senior PKK leaders Murat Karayılan and Duran Kalkan are also suspected of being involved.

Last July the organization allegedly attempted to bomb the headquarters of Star Media Group in Istanbul. Bomb-disposal squads later destroyed the explosive device in a controlled blast.

Those who were behind the attack were identified as Şirin Öter and Yeliz Erbay. They were killed in a dawn raid on Dec. 22 by anti-terror police when they opened fire on police squads closing in on them in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa district.

They were also former executives of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, a 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, had attended Öter and Erbay's funeral in Istanbul along with a large crowd in the city's working-class Gazi district.