Turkish police detain 20 in Istanbul raids targeting PKK

ISTANBUL - Turkish police detained 20 suspects, including lawyers, in an operation involving raids across Istanbul targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Wednesday.

The raids came as fighting between security forces and PKK militants spread to new areas in southeast Turkey, with tanks, helicopters and armoured cars deployed after a suicide bombing that killed 37 people in the capital, Ankara.

The agency said the anti-terror police raids, backed by helicopter, were carried out simultaneously at 32 spots across the city and those detained included lawyers of an unspecified association.

The suspects were taken to the main Istanbul police station after routine health checks, Anadolu said, adding that further suspects were detained in operations in eight other provinces.

No group has claimed responsibility for the car bomb that tore through a crowded transport hub in Ankara on Sunday, but the interior ministry said it was carried out by a woman PKK member.