In response to the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkish security forces have launched a major anti-terrorist operation codenamed “Heroes” across the entire country. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Ali Erlikaya, made this announcement on his social media page (formerly Twitter).
As of 08:30 on Tuesday, October 3, a total of 466 counter-terrorism operations have been carried out throughout Turkey, involving 13,440 security personnel. During the operation, 12 members of terrorist organizations were apprehended in the cities of Mersin, Van, Sanliurfa, Mardin, and Aydin. Furthermore, 55 individuals suspected of terrorism were arrested in Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Bursa, Batman, Denizli, Adana, Kayseri, Antalya, Konya, Isparta, and Kocaeli, as clarified by Erlikaya.
These operations are taking place in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on October 1 near the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs building in Ankara, for which responsibility was claimed by the PKK. Subsequently, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that Turkish forces had conducted airstrikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq.
Earlier, the Taliban (an organization banned in Russia) commented on the US’s claims of its involvement in ISIS activities (an organization banned in Russia)*.
*Additional context: The Taliban, an extremist group primarily active in Afghanistan, has denied any affiliation with ISIS, another extremist organization.
