12 Daesh suspects captured in western Türkiye
Twelve suspects with alleged links to the Daesh terrorist group were arrested in Türkiye’s western Bursa province, Turkish authorities said Wednesday.
Counterterrorism units conducted simultaneous operations in the early morning hours at various locations. All the suspects are foreign nationals.
The police also seized a large amount of digital materials.
Foreign nationals caught in connection with Daesh are usually classified in the “foreign terrorist fighters” category for financially or physically aiding and abetting the group in its operations.
Daesh was designated as a terrorist group in Türkiye in 2013, but it has been since attacked by the 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.
Terrorists from Daesh and other groups, such as the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye. In response, Ankara has been intensifying its crackdown on the terrorists and their links at home, conducting pinpoint operations and freezing assets to eliminate the roots of terrorist groups.
Türkiye has deported 9,000 foreign terrorist fighters, mainly from Daesh, from 102 different nationalities, of which 1,168 are from the U.S. or European Union member countries since 2011. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Sweden and Austria were the leading EU countries in terms of deported foreign terrorists.
The issue of handling Daesh terrorists and their families detained in Syria, including foreign members of the terrorist group, has been controversial, with Türkiye arguing foreign terrorists should be returned to their countries of origin.
Ankara has said several European countries resisted its efforts of sending Daesh terrorist group members to their countries, but it will press forward.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, nearly 5,000 foreign fighters have traveled from the EU to conflict areas in Syria and Iraq, according to estimates by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known as Europol.
Since its formal defeat in Iraq in 2017 and significant loss of territory in Syria since 2015, Daesh fighters have been leading their operations underground, besides losing their leaders to military operations. The group’s last three leaders, all Iraqis, were killed in Syria in recent years outside the areas it had once purported to run.
Source » dailysabah.com
