Police in Turkey arrest 11 terror suspects

By Ilyas Kacar and Halil Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish police arrested 11 people in Istanbul with suspected links to terror groups, security sources said Friday.

Anti-terror police launched an operation to prevent the activities of terrorist organizations, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Police simultaneously raided 18 addresses and arrested 11 terror suspects, including Daesh/ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, it said.

Digital materials, two blank pistols, and 16 cartridges belonging to these pistols were seized during the operation, it added.

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

The country has since been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists multiple times, with 315 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.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara