22 Daesh/ISIS terror suspects arrested in Turkey

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA / ADANA / KAYSERI, Turkey (AA) – At least 22 people believed to be linked to the Daesh/ISIS terror group were arrested in Turkey, security sources said on Tuesday.

Simultaneous operations were carried out in nine provinces after prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued warrants for 14 suspects.

The suspects were active members who provided personnel and materials to the terror group, according to a statement by the prosecutor’s office in Ankara.

Security forces have managed to apprehend 11 of the 14 suspects, with efforts ongoing to track down the three remaining ones, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

A large number of digital materials, organizational documents, and four binoculars was seized in the raids, the sources said.

Over in the southern Adana province, seven Daesh/ISIS suspects were arrested after authorities found out they illegally entered the country from Iraq.

One more suspect is still at large and efforts are on to catch him, the sources said.

Digital materials and a pistol were found in the suspects’ possession, they added.

Four more Daesh/ISIS suspects – all of them foreign nationals – were nabbed in the central Kayseri province.

The suspects were active members of the terror group in Iraq and Syria, according to sources.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist organization.

The country has since been attacked by the terror group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.