Seven Turkish police officers wounded in clash with ISIL fighters: Report 

Seven Turkish police officers have been wounded in a shootout during an operation against alleged ISIL (ISIS) fighters, local media report.

Broadcaster TRT Haber reported that police carried out a raid at a home in Yalova province’s Elmalik village, located south of Istanbul, when fire was exchanged on Sunday.

The officers were not seriously injured, the broadcaster reported. It was not immediately clear whether any suspects were wounded or arrested.

Special forces from nearby Bursa province joined the operation to provide support, including enacting ongoing security measures in the area.

Locals and vehicles were not allowed into the area surrounding the targeted home, the broadcaster said, while the Yalova governorate also suspended classes at five nearby schools.

On Thursday, Turkish authorities said they had conducted raids on 124 locations and apprehended 115 ISIL suspects.

Police had received intelligence that operatives were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular” during the holiday period, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.

The United States military also carried out extensive strikes against ISIL in neighbouring central and northeastern Syria earlier this month, hitting more than 70 targets. The strikes came a week after two US soldiers and an interpreter were killed in an attack in the Syrian city of Palmyra.

Turkiye, which shares a border with Syria, has expanded its efforts against ISIL in recent years. Turkish authorities say some ISIL operatives relocated to the country in 2019 after the group was vanquished in the parts of Iraq and Syria it then controlled.

Previous raids in March had led to the capture of nearly 300 suspected ISIL members across 47 provinces over two weeks.

Between 2013 and 2023, authorities arrested more than 19,000 people for suspected affiliations with the group, according to the Turkish presidency.