UPDATE 2 - Police arrest 102 Daesh/ISIS terror suspects in Turkey

UPDATES WITH MORE ARRESTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Muzahim Zahid Tuzun, Selman Tur and Fatih Mehmet Kurkcu

KAYSERI/BATMAN/SAMSUN/ADANA/BURSA/ISTANBUL/HATAY, Turkey (AA) - Turkish police arrested 102 suspects linked to the Daesh/ISIS terror group across Turkey, security sources said on Monday.

Police in the central Kayseri province arrested nine Iraqi nationals in simultaneous operations over their terror activities in Iraq and Syria, said the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In a separate operation, security forces in the eastern Batman province arrested 22 suspects including the terror group’s head of the city.

In the northern Samsun province, 14 Iraqi nationals were also arrested by the police forces of the province.

Police officers in the southern Adana province arrested six suspects including four Syrian and two Iraqi origins.

Also, in the western Bursa province since Dec. 23, police officers arrested 16 suspects including 13 Syrian nationals over their links to the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

In Turkey’s metropolitan Istanbul, police arrested 24 suspects, including four foreign nationals during operations early Monday.

In a separate operation in southern Hatay province, police arrested 11 suspects.

During the operations, weapons, ammunition, digital materials and organizational documents were also seized.

Turkey recognized Daesh/ISIS as a terrorist organization in 2013.

Since then, the country has been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists numerous times. They include 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings and a total of four armed attacks which killed 315 people and injured hundreds.

In response, Turkey has launched military and police operations inside the country and abroad to prevent terrorist attacks.

* Writing by Havva Kara Aydin