ANKARA, April 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Forty-one members of terrorist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front(DHKP-C) organization were detained in operations staged synchronously in Turkey, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Thursday.

    Officials of the Turkish Interior Ministry said that police departments of Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium staged comprehensive operations against terrorist DHKP-C organization.

    Twenty-five DHKP-C members were captured in Turkey while the rest 16 were detained in European countries, the officials said.

    The officials added that Turkish Directorate General of Security's Intelligence Department and German Federal Police Department had been exchanging intelligence for about a year.

    Turkey later cooperated with Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands and captured the 41 DHKP-C terrorists in Turkey and European countries, the officials added.

    The DHKP-C has claimed responsibility for a number of assassinations and bombings since the 1970s. The group is also leading a nationwide hunger strike, in which 65 people have died since October 2000, to protest Turkey's maximum security prison system.

    In 2001, the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed four people, including an Australian woman and the bomber.

    In 2002, the European Union placed the DHKP-C on a list of groups it considers "terrorist" organizations. Enditem