Turkish authorities detained 22 Islamic State-linked terrorist suspects

Police detained 22 Daesh-linked terrorist suspects in Ankara-based counterterrorism operations carried out in nine provinces across Turkey on Tuesday.

In the capital Ankara, police detained 11 out of 14 suspects accused of fighting for, recruiting and providing tools and materials for Daesh terrorists in conflict zones. Digital materials and four binoculars were confiscated in the operation, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

In Kayseri province, police nabbed four suspects who worked for Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The suspects were identified as Syrian nationals, AA said.

Meanwhile, police detained seven more suspects in southern Adana province. The suspects had unlawfully entered Turkey after working for Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq, the report said.

Weapons and digital materials found at the suspects’ addresses were confiscated by the police, who are still looking for one more suspect as part of the operation in the city.

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

The country has since been attacked by the terrorist 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.

In response, Turkey launched counterterrorism operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.

In May, Ankara arrested a Daesh terrorist identified as the right-hand man of former terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military operation in Syria in 2019. Reports said that Turkish intelligence played a key role in the death of al-Baghdadi by detaining and extraditing one of his aides to Iraq, who then provided U.S. authorities with critical information to help locate the vicious man.

Turkish security forces have nabbed at least 850 suspects with links to Daesh in the first three months of 2021, dealing a heavy blow to the terrorist group’s presence in the country and its activities in the region.

Source: Daily Sabah