Turkish Police Raid pro-Kurdish Party, Detain 17 across Istanbul

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in front of the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, August 10, 2016. (Photo: Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Palace/Handout)

ISTANBUL (Reuters)””Turkish police detained 17 suspected militants in a sweep in Istanbul on Thursday that included a raid on offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), their state media said, hours after twin bomb attacks hit the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Security sources blamed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants for the bombings on Wednesday evening, which killed nine civilians and came as Turkey is in the midst of a crackdown after a failed military coup attempt on July 15.

Backed by a helicopter, counter-terror squads raided HDP offices in Istanbul’s central Beyoglu district at 3am (0000 GMT) as armored vehicles were deployed nearby, the Dogan news agency reported.

The HDP, parliament’s third-largest party, wrote on its Istanbul Twitter account that police had broken open the door of its building and “illegally”