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Terrorism

Turkish police kill five IS militants

July 12, 2017

Turkish special police forces killed five suspected Islamic State members during a raid in the central Konya province. Authorities were investigating an alleged IS plot to attack a commemoration event.

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Special police forces officer standing at a roof in Istanbul
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer

The police engaged the group after raiding several locations in the city of Konya on Wednesday morning.

"During the operation, the five terrorists were neutralized after they resisted armed force, and four security forces were lightly injured," the governor's office said in a statement.

The police also recovered five Kalashnikov rifles, one gun and some ammunition, according to the authorities.

Wednesday's raids were part of an investigation into a suspected Islamic State (IS) plan to launch an attack during upcoming events to honor victims of last year's failed coup. Turkey is set to mark the first anniversary of the deadly violence later this week. Authorities did not say whether their suspicions of the plot were confirmed.

Erdogan says 'thousands of IS members killed'

Police also blocked off streets in Konya's Meram district and searched vehicles after the firefight.

IS has launched several major attacks in Turkey in recent years, the most recent being a shooting in the upmarket Reina nightclub in Istanbul on New Years Eve. An IS terrorist killed 39 people at the club, most of them foreigners.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed Turkish forces killed 3,000 IS terrorists in their northern Syria operation between August 2016 and March 2017. He added Turkey had deported 5,000 terror suspects and banned another 53,000 people from entering the country.

dj/rt (AFP, Reuters)