Türkiye Detains 98 Over Alleged Kurdish Militant Links 

New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Detains 98 Over Alleged Kurdish Militant Links 

New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)
New Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stands during a press conference where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the new cabinet, in Ankara, Türkiye June 3, 2023. (Reuters)

Turkish police on Monday detained 98 suspects over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, most of them on a charge of spreading PKK propaganda on social media, the interior ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said the suspects were detained in simultaneous operations across 18 provinces, with most of the detentions being in southeastern regions.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, United States, and Türkiye, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Ankara frequently carries out cross-border airstrikes and operations against the PKK, which has bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. It also regularly conducts operations against people linked to it domestically.

In recent weeks, Türkiye has intensified attacks on Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, as well as against its members in the country, after militants detonated a bomb near government buildings in Ankara on Oct. 1.

Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social messaging platform X that authorities had destroyed 63 shelters, caves, and storage units used by PKK militants in six provinces.

"The shelters that the terrorist organization prepared to be used for logistical purposes and to carry out acts in the winter months have been identified and destroyed one by one," Yerlikaya said, adding several weapons, ammunition, and equipment had been seized in the raids.



7 Dead, Dozens Injured after Commercial Bus Overturns in Mississippi

A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
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7 Dead, Dozens Injured after Commercial Bus Overturns in Mississippi

A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)
A tractor trailer dangles from a bridge on Interstate 75 near Tampa, Fla., early Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Florida Highway Patrol via AP)

Seven people, including a six-year-old and 16-year-old, were killed when a bus overturned east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, early Saturday, Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said.
The two young victims were siblings, Reuters quoted the coroner as saying.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said the incident took place around 12:40 a.m. on Interstate 20 near Bovina in Warren County when a 2018 Volvo commercial passenger bus traveling westbound left the roadway and overturned.
Thirty-seven passengers were transported to different hospitals with unknown injuries, the agency said. It said the co-driver was not transported.
"Anytime you have people injured or killed, it's tragic but when you have a situation like this where you have multiple fatalities and multiple injuries, it makes it even worse," Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace told an ABC affiliate.
Huskey said most of the passengers on the bus were Latin American.