ANTALYA, IZMIR, ESKISEHIR, Turkey
Twenty-nine people have been detained in three provinces of Turkey for having alleged links to armed leftist group DHKP-C.
The operations on Wednesday came one day after Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was shot dead after being taken hostage by gunmen in an Istanbul courthouse.
Police raided houses in western Izmir, Eskisehir and southern Antalya.
In Antalya, 19 people were taken into custody while five were held in each of the provinces of Izmir and Eskisehir.
Increased attacks
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, is a 1978-founded Marxist-Leninist party listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
A photograph showing a gunman with a DHKP-C flag pointing a weapon at Kiraz’s head, was published on a Facebook page during the incident on Tuesday.
In recent years, the leftist organization has increased its attacks on police officers and foreign consulates.
It also allegedly carried out a bomb attack last week against the Istanbul-based Adimlar magazine, a monthly political outlet, killing one writer and wounding three others.
Suicide bombing
A member of the front also opened fire on police officers at Istanbul’s Taksim Square in January.
No injuries or casualties were reported, but a police vehicle was damaged.
DHKP-C also conducted an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in 2013, where a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the embassy, killing one security officer and wounding several others.
Members of the front conducted an attack on the ruling AK Party’s headquarters in Ankara and the Ministry of Justice during the same year.
