Turkish police detain 94 people suspected of having ties to Daesh
Turkish police have detained at least 94 people suspected of having ties to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group amid nationwide raids aimed at preventing potential acts of terror ahead of New Year’s celebrations.
Operations were carried out in the central provinces of Ankara, Kayseri and Adana, and Batman in the southeast, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.
In the small hours of the day in Batman, some 400 police officers arrested 22 people in simultaneous raids, seizing weapons and documents.
At least 30 Iraqis, two Syrians and one Moroccan national were detained in the capital Ankara.
Nine Iraqi citizens who had fought in Syria and Iraq were detained in Kayseri. Four Syrian and two Iraqi citizens were detained in Adana.
Turkey was accused of allowing foreign-backed militants to pass easily across its border in the early years of the conflict in Syria. It took a much tougher response after a spate of Daesh attacks in 2015 and 2016 that harmed its tourism industry.
The violence culminated in the 2017 New Year’s Eve massacre of 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub, claimed by Daesh.
Last month, Turkey said it would send foreign members of Daesh back to their home countries in Europe after the suspected militants were captured by the Turkish army troops during Ankara’s cross-border offensive into northeastern Syria.
NATO argues that Turkey’s offensive in October against the Kurdish YPG militants could have allowed Daesh suspects to escape from prisons and camps run by the YPG.
There are thought to be at least 10,000 suspected Daesh terrorists imprisoned in northeastern Syria.
According to a count by Kurdish officials, nearly 800 Daesh prisoners have managed to escape from a prisoner camp in the wake of the October offensive.
Some European countries have begun talks with Iraqi officials to enable captured Takfiri militants being held in Syria to face trial in Iraq, but progress appears to be slow.
-Turkish police
