Turkish security forces have detained nearly 200 people in a nationwide sweep, one day after a shootout outside Israel's consulate in Istanbul, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on April 8.
Gürlek posted on X that officers had detained 198 suspects in a simultaneous operation in 34 provinces against "the terrorist organization Daesh,” another name for the ISIL.
A gunman was killed and two others wounded in the April 7 shootout with police outside the consulate, with two officers lightly wounded.
Twelve of those arrested have been placed in pre-trial detention, including the two wounded gunmen, who were hospitalized, according to the justice ministry.
Turkish media reports said the gunman who was killed was a 32-year-old man linked to ISIL.
The Interior Ministry said he had ties to a "terrorist organization” and that the two wounded gunmen were brothers with links to drug trafficking.
Media reports said the assailants had scouted the area beforehand and identified escape routes. The slain suspect was also reportedly involved in a family-related murder in 2018.
Footage of the shootout showed one of the attackers armed with an automatic rifle, dressed in beige cargo pants and carrying a backpack.
Officials said the attackers arrived in a rented vehicle from the neighboring province of Kocaeli, about 86 kilometers (50 miles) from Istanbul.
Two police officers intervened and were wounded. Witnesses said the shootout lasted at least 10 minutes.
There were no Israeli diplomats at the mission at the time of the shootout, as most have been evacuated since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel that set off the Gaza war.
