Turkey reports arrests in Islamic State-linked operation

Turkey's interior ministry said Saturday that authorities had arrested people across the country accused of links to the Islamic State group.

The ministry said the police operation was carried out in 30 provinces, including Istanbul and Ankara. The report gives two different figures for the number arrested: it first says 119 people were arrested, while a quoted ministry statement refers to 199 suspects.

The ministry said accusations against those detained included membership of the Islamic State group, posting Islamic State propaganda on social media and financing the group through intermediaries or what it called so-called charities.

The report also said that in late June, Turkish police killed a man suspected of Islamic State links during an exchange of gunfire in southern Ankara, two weeks before a NATO summit in the capital. After that incident, 209 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group or far-left groups were arrested in Ankara on the orders of the city's chief prosecutor.