UPDATE - Turkey arrests 13 Daesh/ISIS terror suspects

UPDATES WITH OPERATION IN IZMIR, REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Recep Bilek and Yusuf Soykan Bal

SAMSUN/IZMIR, Turkey (AA) - Police arrested 13 people in Turkey over their suspected links to the Daesh/ISIS terror group, security sources said on Friday.

Local anti-terror teams in the Black Sea province of Samsun carried out simultaneous operations to nab 11 Iraqi nationals.

Eight of them have been arrested and the hunt for other suspects is still underway, according to security sources.

Police also seized a digital material during raids in the residences of suspects.

In simultaneous operations in the western province Izmir, anti-terror police teams arrested five people over their alleged links to Mahmut Ozden, senior Daesh/ISIS terrorist who was previously arrested in the southern Adana province.

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

It has since been attacked multiple times by Daesh/ISIS terrorists, with at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks that have killed 315 people and injured hundreds more.

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

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev and Ahmet Gencturk