AFP, Istanbul

Turkey yesterday detained another 125 Islamic State (IS) group suspects in a string of nationwide raids, a minister said, following warnings that IS militants were planning attacks over the holidays.

The latest arrests raised to nearly 600 the total number detained over the past week.

“We captured 125 Daesh suspects in simultaneous operations carried out in 25 provinces this morning,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

On Christmas Day, the security forces arrested 115 IS suspects following intelligence warning that the extremist group was “planing attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations”, the Istanbul’s prosecutor’s office said.

During another nationwide arrest operation on Monday, IS militants opened fire on police in the northwestern coastal town of Yalova, killing three officers and wounding nine others, the interior minister said.

Six IS militants were also killed in the hours-long gun battle in Yalova, which lies on the shores of the Sea of Marmara about 90 kilometres (55 miles) southeast of Istanbul.

A day later, another 357 suspects with ties to IS were arrested in 21 different provinces, the minister said.