Islamic State buried weapons in six Turkish provinces

The Islamic State (ISIS) has been working to transfer most of its core operations to Turkey after the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, and currently has weapons buried in stockpiles in six provinces in Turkey, Kasım Güler, the alleged Turkey chief for the Islamic State (ISIS), told authorities in his testimony.

The six provinces are Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin, Denizli, Van and Adana, Deutsche Welle Turkish cited Güler as saying. ISIS has chapters in 12 provinces, he added.

Güler, arrested in June 2021 near Turkey’s border with Syria, told authorities that ISIS had launched a plan to implement what it called the ‘mountain project’ in Turkey’s southern Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay provinces to carry out operations for the jihadist group from Turkish soil.

The group was also planning to bring its militants to Turkey from Europe for training, Güler said, adding that the plans were interrupted upon the arrest of key ISIS figures.

In the buried ISIS cache there are RPGs, machine guns, automatic rifles, silencers, and large amounts of ammunition, he added.

An ISIS cell known as the Salahaddin Group in Adana planned to abduct Turkish deputies and ministers to use for negotiating prisoner returns, but the plan was not accepted by the group in general, according to Güler.

In his testimony Güler also said ISIS planned attacks and assassinations against Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the popular opposition mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu, religious minority group Alevis, tourists, Turkey’s LGBT community, and the İncirlik Airbase in Adana.

Source: Ahval News