ISIS chief al-Baghdadi ordered the killing of Turkey’s main opposition party leader

Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2017 ordered his operatives in Turkey to assassinate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), columnist Talat Atilla said in Milliyet newspaper on Sunday.

Turkish police arrested six men in July 2017 that they believed planned an assassination attempt against Kılıçdaroğlu, while he was passing through the western province of Kocaeli during a 25-day march he made from Ankara to Istanbul to protest the deterioration of the rule.

Turkish police said the attackers were linked to ISIS and one of the suspects, Oğuzhan Korkmaz, was the leader of extreme jihadist group’s cell in Kayseri, in central Turkey. Korkmaz is one of 11 people being tried for membership of ISIS. He denies any links to the group.

According to columnist Atilla, the investigators after interrogating Korkmaz and accessing all information on his mobile phone concluded that the assassination attempt was not planned by an ISIS cell in Turkey acting alone.

The assassination of Kılıçdaroğlu was personally instructed by ISIS leader Baghdadi, Atilla said.

Source: Ahval News