Eyewitnesses describe night long clashes in Turkey that killed nine, including three police officers

A raid on a suspected Islamic State hideout in Yalova, Turkey, left three police officers and six militants dead, with several others wounded, authorities said.

Reuters

29 December 2025 at 11:44:13

A general view of the house where Turkish security forces launched an operation believed to contain suspected Islamic State militants, and where, three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight, according to authorities, in Yalova province, Turkey, December 29, 2025.

Umit Bektas/Reuters

Three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey on Monday (December 29), the Interior Minister said, a week after more than 100 suspected IS militants were detained for planning Christmas and New Year attacks.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said eight police and another security force member were wounded in a raid on a property in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul. More than 100 addresses were raided nationwide early on Monday.

Local residents said the clashes started around 2 am (2300gmt) and lasted until morning as the house that the militants were inside was burning in the early hours of morning. Fire trucks were seen as smoke was billowing according to the local media.

Police raided the house in Yalova on the suspicion that militants were hiding there overnight. Sporadic gunfire was heard during the operation, which lasted nearly eight hours, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene.

Production: Bulent Usta/Reuters