Police target DHKP-C cells in Istanbul raid yesterday

Baku. 5 August. REPORT.AZ/ Counterterrorism teams of the Istanbul Police Department carried out a dawn operation in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa and Bağcılar districts, targeting 13 addresses linked to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), Report informs citing Turkish media.

The police detained multiple suspects after searching their apartments, and three people have been taken into custody so far. The operation, including helicopters and riot police, is ongoing.

The DHKP-C is an offshoot of a Marxist-Leninist movement that was established in the 1970s. The DHKP-C was founded in the 1990s after it splintered from a larger group of far-left organizations responsible for a string of attacks that include the assassination of two politicians in 1980, several intelligence officials and prominent businessman Özdemir Sabancı.

It kept a relatively low profile for many years and its attacks were relatively minor compared to the PKK, another terrorist organization active in Turkey. It however stepped up its attacks over the past two years. In 2013, a DHKP-C militant carried out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy compound in Ankara, killing a Turkish security guard.