Ankara - Seven police officers and a television cameraman were injured in Istanbul Monday in a shootout between police and three members of a left-wing group that began after police raided a number of houses in the Turkish city early Monday. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said the raids started at 5:30 am (0230 GMT) and the shootout in the suburb of Bostanci on the Asian side of the city was continuing some five hours later.

Guler said the far-left group was planning a "sensational operation".

In a raid on a house in the suburb of Bagcilar, police seized weapons, ammunition and bomb-making materials

Guler said there were also a total of 60 raids in six different provinces which also targeted radical Islamist groups such as al- Qaeda and Turkish Hezbollah. (dpa)