Some 38 people have been detained by the Turkish police in raids on suspected members of al-Qaeda, state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Friday. The number's been going up every day. In a couple months they'll be in the thousands.
The raids were the latest in a series targeting suspected members of the Islamist militant group in recent years. Islamist radicals have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past, especially in 2003 when more than 60 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of bombings by al-Qaeda militants in Istanbul.
"Thirty-eight people were detained in an operation against a radical right-wing group carried out simultaneously in Istanbul, Izmir and Manisa," the agency quoted Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah addressing a news conference. Cerrah said 23 of them were detained in Istanbul, suspected of involvement in 12 criminal acts.
Anatolian and other media said the operation was directed against suspected al-Qaeda militants. Istanbul police declined to confirm the reports.
Anatolian on Wednesday reported that 15 suspected al-Qaeda members had been detained in Istanbul. It was not clear whether the suspects to which Cerrah referred on Friday were the same.
On Wednesday a Turkish prosecutor charged two suspected al-Qaeda members over an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in July that killed three police officers.