Turkey raid left-wing insurgents said to plan 'sensational attacks' on May 1
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
ANKARA Ñ 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.
"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.
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.