Turkish Police Arrest Hundreds in Largest Anti-ISIS Operation
Turkey’s anti-terrorism police have detained over 440 people for alleged links to ISIS, a state-run agency reported on Sunday, Feb. 5.
The Anadolu Agency said 60 ISIS suspects were taken into custody early Sunday in the capital. A total of 445 people were detained in simultaneous pre-dawn police operations that spanned several cities, including Gaziantep that rests near the border of Syria.
The largest operation was in the southeast province of Sanliurfa, where police took into custody more than 100 suspects from multiple addresses and found materials relating to ISIS militants.
Security forces believe that also apprehended at least nine suspects who were allegedly preparing an attack on the northwestern city of Izmir.
Turkey has been stepping up their anti-terrorism efforts as a result of dozens of bloody attacks linked to ISIS or Kurdish militants in the last couple of years.