Turkey raid left-wing insurgents said to plan 'sensational attacks' on May 1
ANKARA — The Turkey government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has launched a campaign
to capture far left insurgents.
On April 27, some 1,000 Turkish forces raided 60 suspected strongholds of what were termed as
Revolutionary Headquarters around Istanbul, Middle East Newsline reported.
"They were planning to stage sensational armed attacks soon," Istanbul
Gov. Moammar Guler said. "We have seized lots of weapons, bombs and
boobytraps."
In one raid, the suspected
insurgents opened fire and hurled bombs, and three people, including a
senior police commander, were killed and seven others were injured.
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So far, officials said, at least 38 suspected members of the insurgency
group have been arrested and weapons and explosives were found. The
Revolutionary Headquarters was said to be led by three people, one of whom,
Orhan Yilmazkaya, was killed in the raids.
"This terrorist [Yilmazkaya] had been under scrutiny for a while,"
Interior Minister Besir Atalay said. "He is one of the leaders of this
far-left Revolutionary Headquarters and has links with the separatist terror
organization."
Atalay also said Revolutionary Headquarters was planning what he termed
"sensational attacks." He did not elaborate, but the Turkish newspaper Sabah
said the attacks had been planned for May 1.
On April 28, a leading Turkish media outlet reported a planned offensive
by the Kurdish Workers Party. CNNTurk, citing police officials, said the PKK
has sent three suspected suicide bombers from along the border with Iraq to
conduct attacks in major cities in Turkey.
