Turkish Police Raid ISIS Cell in Yalova; ISIS Fighters Kill Three Officers, Police Kill Six ISIS Fighters

Turkish security forces carried out a pre-dawn raid on a suspected Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) hideout in Elmalık (Elmali) village in Yalova province that erupted into a prolonged gunbattle, leaving three police officers and six suspected militants dead and multiple officers wounded.

“Turkish security forces carried out a major anti-ISIL operation around a targeted home, evacuating five women and six children and sealing off the area while special forces from nearby Bursa province supported the raid, broadcasters reported”

Al Jazeera

Authorities and multiple outlets reported the operation began early Monday, involved special units and lasted several hours, with five women and six children evacuated from the house and emergency services on scene; local utilities were cut and schools were closed as precautions.

Al Jazeera

The Interior Ministry and officials characterized the action as part of coordinated, wider counter-terror sweeps across the country.

Officials framed the Yalova action as one node of a nationwide counter‑terrorism push ahead of the holiday period.

Outlets differ on scope and recent totals, variously naming roughly 100–124 addresses targeted across 13–15 provinces and giving differing arrest and detention counts for the past week or month.

Al Jazeera

Several reports link the raids to intelligence about planned attacks around Christmas and New Year’s and place the Yalova clash within a stepped‑up campaign that has included large simultaneous operations across multiple provinces.

Turkish authorities and prosecutors moved quickly after the Yalova clash: Istanbul and local prosecutors opened inquiries, the Justice Ministry assigned state prosecutors, and some outlets reported detentions and a temporary broadcast restriction on coverage of the operation.

“Mansour Al-Maswari ALBAWABA- Six suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants and three Turkish police officers were killed during a raid in Yalova province, northwest Turkey, on December 29, 2025, the Interior Ministry confirmed”

albawaba

Officials publicly framed the raids as preventive counter‑terrorism measures, and ministers and the president offered condolences while vowing to continue operations against extremist cells.

Some reports emphasized that the Yalova action was conducted with care because civilians were in the house.

Sources broadly agree that the militants neutralised in Yalova were Turkish nationals.

Coverage diverges: many regional and international outlets quote officials saying the suspects were Turkish citizens, while at least one outlet described them as foreign nationals, an explicit reporting contradiction.

Apa.az

SyriacPress published the names of the three slain officers, adding local specificity that other outlets did not provide.

Western mainstream outlets highlighted operational caution and civilian protection.

“Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said three police officers were killed and six Islamic State militants were killed during a gunbattle in Elmalik village, Yalova province (about 100 km east of Istanbul) on Monday”

Balkan Insight

West Asian and regional sources placed the raid in a broader regional-security surge against ISIL sleeping cells and cited historical arrest totals.

Balkan Insight

Western alternative and local outlets emphasized the scale and immediacy of the security response and rising domestic counter-ISIS activity.

Across all sources, the central facts of a deadly clash in Yalova with three police and six militants killed are consistent.

The main ambiguities concern wounded counts, the precise number of simultaneous raids or arrests referenced, and occasional claims about the suspects' nationality.