Turkey has caught 2,554 fugitives

Turkish authorities have
captured 2,554 fugitives as part of a nationwide
counter-terrorism operation launched after Kurdish militants
detonated a bomb near government buildings in Ankara a week ago,
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Sunday.
Turkey said this week all targets belonging to the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia and the Syrian Kurdish YPG
militia were “legitimate targets” for its forces, after the PKK
claimed responsibility for last Sunday’s bombing, which wounded
two police officers and killed the two attackers.
Ankara said the attackers came from Syria. The U.S.-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the YPG militia
which Turkey regards as a terrorist organisation affiliated with
the PKK, denied this.
The United States and European Union deem the PKK a
terrorist organisation, but not the YPG.
Since the attack, Ankara has launched a barrage of air
strikes and ground-based attacks against militant targets in the
north of Syria and Iraq, while ramping up security operations at
home.
Yerlikaya said on social media platform X the fugitives were
caught as part of a nationwide initiative dubbed “Operation
Heroes”.
“We will not allow fugitive criminals to roam our streets.
We are determined to catch and hand them over to justice,” he
said, without saying which groups those captured belonged to.
Authorities had been searching for 12 of the fugitives for
over 10 years, Yerlikaya said, while 91 have been sought for
5-10 years, and 2,451 for fewer than five years.
Later on Sunday, Turkey’s defence ministry said the military
had carried out fresh air strikes against Kurdish militants in
northern Syria and destroyed six targets, including shelters and
storage facilities where militants were believed to be, and an
oil facility used by the militants.
In a statement, the ministry also said many militants had
been “neutralised” in the strikes, carried out at 1900 GMT, but
did not say which regions of Syria they had struck.
Ankara typically uses the term “neutralised” to mean killed.
Turkey, which has mounted several incursions into
northern Syria against the YPG, has said a ground operation into
Syria is an option it could consider.
The YPG is also at the heart of the SDF forces in the
U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants. U.S. support
for them has long caused tension with Ankara.