147 IS Suspects Detained Across Turkey

Turkish police on Tuesday detained a total of 147 people in nine provinces, including foreign nationals, over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group

ISTANBUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Dec, 2019 ) :Turkish police on Tuesday detained a total of 147 people in nine provinces, including foreign nationals, over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Police launched operations in many locations in the central provinces of Ankara and Kayseri, the northwestern provinces of Istanbul and Bursa, Batman, Hatay and Gaziantep in the southeast, Samsun in the north and Adana in the south, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

In Ankara, 30 Iraqis, two Syrians and one Moroccan were detained, Anadolu said, noting police were continuing to hunt 17 other foreign suspects.

Police captured 24 suspects, including four foreign nationals, in Istanbul, along with organizational documents and digital materials.

In Batman, some 400 police officers apprehended 22 suspects and an unspecified amount of weapons, ammunition and documents.

Police caught 23 Iraqis in Kayseri and Samsun, four Syrians and two Iraqis in Adana, and 16 people, including 13 Syrians, in Bursa and 23 suspects in Gaziantep and Hatay.

On Dec. 26, 21 IS suspects, among them 20 foreign nationals and a Turkish citizen, were detained in Istanbul as they were believed to have been planning terror attacks.

IS militants were blamed for a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past years, in which more than 300 people were killed.