Turkish police capture 8 wanted terrorists in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Turkish security forces captured eight wanted terrorists, including senior members of far-left DHKP-C group, in a counter-terror operation in Istanbul early Tuesday, local governorate said.

Counter-terrorism units nabbed six terrorists hiding in chambers on the top floor of a building in Istanbul, and two others in the building during the operation.

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, is responsible for a number of terror attacks in Turkey, including a 2013 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, which martyred a Turkish security guard.

The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU.

Among the suspects arrested were Umit Ilter, so-called secretary-general of DHKP-C, and Caferi Sadik Eroglu, leader of the terror group in Turkey.

Ilter was inscribed in the green category of the Interior Ministry's wanted list, which is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.

The terrorists were accused of establishing and managing an armed terrorist organization, and participating in unlawful meetings and demonstrations, as well as spreading terrorist group propaganda.

Earlier, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the presence of the DHKP-C in rural areas of Turkey was wiped out while talking about the operation targeting terrorists.

"Our fight against terrorism is on and will continue without slowing down," Soylu said.

On Jan. 9, 1996, a DHKP-C terrorist Fehriye Erdal and two of her associates killed Ozdemir Sabanci of Sabanci Holding -- one of the leading business conglomerates in Turkey -- senior executive Haluk Gorgun and secretary Nilgun Hasefe in a brazen attack at the Sabanci Center, headquarters of the holding in Istanbul.

Writing By Jeyhun Aliyev