Five die in raids on al Qaeda cells in Turkey
(Recasts, updates toll, details, changes source)
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A police officer and four al Qaeda militants were killed on Thursday in southeast Turkey in raids launched by police who believed the Islamists were planning major attacks, the local governor's office said.
Special forces police backed by armoured vehicles launched raids on houses used by the Islamic militant group in and around the city of Gaziantep, in a 12-hour operation in the early hours of Thursday.
Four police officers were injured, two of them seriously, in clashes which erupted and brought parts of the city to a standstill. Masked police sharpshooters surrounded the targeted houses.
The Gaziantep governor's office said 19 people were detained in the operation. Police seized 75 kg (165 lb) of ammonium nitrate, an explosive, along with rifles, pistols, ammunition and documents.
"There was information that units linked to the al Qaeda terror group were preparing acts that would have had a dramatic impact in our province and beyond," Gaziantep Governor Suleyman Kamci said in a statement.
Police said the fighting erupted after their calls for the militants to surrender were met by gunfire.
Broadcaster CNN Turk said on its Web site one militant only surrendered after a 12-hour siege of a house where two other fighters had earlier been shot dead.
RESIDENTS APPLAUD
Local residents applauded the police and hung Turkish flags from their houses after the operation, CNN Turk said.
Police had closed the area around the besieged house to traffic and five armoured vehicles were deployed after two explosions. It was not clear if the blasts caused damage or casualties. Ambulances and bomb disposal teams were also sent.
State-run Anatolian news agency said a passerby had been injured in the raids, which targeted 18 locations in Gaziantep and neighbouring Kahramanmaras.
Police have carried out a series of operations across Turkey against people suspected of links to al Qaeda in recent months.
In 2003 the group claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks against the British consulate, two synagogues and an HSBC bank in Istanbul, which killed more than 60 people.
Earlier this month, Turkish police detained more than 40 suspected members of another Islamist radical group, Hizbullah, which is not believed to be linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
Hizbullah emerged in the late 1980s during fighting between Kurdish separatist guerrillas and Turkish troops. It killed scores of people, targeting mainly Kurdish separatist rebel sympathisers. (Writing by Daren Butler and Thomas Grove; editing by Andrew Roche)
