Police in Turkey have detained at least 67 people over suspected links to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group in operations across the country.

Tuesday's sweep, carried out in 16 Turkish provinces, comes after the PKK claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attackin the capital Ankara on Sunday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that 55 people suspected of being part of the "intelligence structure" of the PKK had been detained.

At least 12 more suspected PKK members were rounded up in a separate operation in five provinces, Yerlikaya added.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance to the Interior Ministry hours ahead of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's address to the Parliament after its summer recess.

A second would-be bomber was killed in a police shootout.

Germany has had a ban on the PKK's activities since 1993 and the group has been on the EU list of terrorist organizations since 2002.

The US has designated the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

Source: DW 

BDST: 1025 HRS, OCT 04, 2023
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