ISTANBUL (AP) — Suicide bombers blew themselves up Sunday during a Turkish police raid against suspected Islamic State militants near the Syrian border, killing three police officers and wounding eight other people, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Gaziantep governor Ali Yerlikaya, speaking to the agency, said police received a tip about a group of IS militants hiding in a house in the city's Sahinbey district and launched an operation to apprehend them. The militants blew themselves up when they realized they could not escape, the agency reported.
It was not clear how many suicide bombers were involved.
"Unfortunately, three of our police officers were martyred and eight people, including four Syrians, were wounded," he told Anadolu. The news agency said police officers were among the wounded and one person was in critical condition.
The governor said police raid followed a tip that the group could be planning an attack on an Alawite cultural association in the city, according to Anadolu.
Turkey has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks over the past year, carried out by IS or Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
In August, 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up during an outdoor wedding celebration in Gaziantep. Authorities said the attack was the work of the IS group.
