At least 12 Daesh terrorist suspects have been detained in anti-terror operations carried out in Istanbul following the stabbing of a police officer late Sunday.

Counter-terror squads from Istanbul Police raided various addresses in Fatih and Aksaray districts, detaining Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals.

The suspects were taken to the Haseki Hospital for routine health checkups and were then brought to the police station.

An unidentified Daesh terrorist stabbed and killed a police officer while he was being kept under custody on suspicion of planning a suicide attack.

Daesh became one of the most active terrorist groups in Turkey over a span of just two years. It has been blamed for a string of attacks in Turkey, ranging from suicide bombings to gun attacks.

The country has deported over 5,000 Daesh suspects.

Daesh terror attacks in Turkey, which increased between July 2015 and August 2016 and caused the deaths of nearly 300 people, drastically decreased after the operation was launched on Aug. 24, 2016. After that date, Daesh has only been able to carry out one terror attack inside Turkish borders.

Source: dailysabah.com