ISTANBUL (TURKEY) – Turkish police detained people suspected to have connections with the Islamic State militant group. This was part of an operation that targeted a total of 35 foreign suspects in Istanbul on Thursday.
It said the counter-terror squad police carried out simultaneous raids on 34 addresses in 14 districts of the city after receiving intelligence about possible militant attacks over the New Year period.
Prosecutors in the capital Ankara ordered the arrest of a further 15 suspects in another Islamic State-related investigation, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.
Police started rounding up alleged jihadist militants over the last two years, after a gunman killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub attack claimed by the militant group on New Year’s Day in 2017 .