Turkiye arrests 115 ISIL suspects it says planned holiday attacks

Raids across Istanbul seize weapons as authorities seek 22 remaining suspects still at large.

Turkish security forces have disrupted planned attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations after arresting more than 100 suspected ISIL (ISIS) operatives in Istanbul, officials said.

Authorities conducted raids across 124 locations on Thursday, apprehending 115 suspects they were seeking, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

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The operation came after police received intelligence that ISIL members were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular”, during the holiday period, it added.

Officers seized firearms, ammunition and what officials described as organisational documents during the sweeps.

Efforts are continuing to locate the remaining 22 suspects.

That sweep, coordinated between intelligence services, police and military forces, netted individuals involved in financing the group’s activities and spreading its propaganda.

The prosecutor’s office said those arrested were in contact with ISIL operatives outside Turkiye, underscoring the transnational nature of the threat.

The arrests mark the latest phase in Turkiye’s efforts against the armed group, which officials regard as the country’s second-most serious “terrorism” threat.

Turkiye has emerged as a primary target for ISIL activity given its geography and demographics. The country shares a long border with Syria, where the armed group maintains a presence despite losing its territorial holdings in 2019.

The group has since been expanding in central Asia and has new affiliates across Africa.

Thousands arrested in recent years

Turkish authorities say some suspected ISIL members settled in the country after the collapse of the group’s self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria in 2019.

Turkiye declared ISIL a terrorist organisation in 2013. Between then and 2023, authorities arrested more than 19,000 individuals for alleged affiliations with the group, according to figures from the Turkish presidency.

More than 7,600 foreign nationals suspected of engaging in foreign armed group activity have also been deported during that period, it said.

Thursday’s operation follows widespread arrests in March, when Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that 298 suspected ISIL members had been detained across 47 provinces over a two-week period.

The arrests come just five days after US forces launched extensive strikes against ISIL positions across Syria, hitting more than 70 targets.

Those attacks were ordered in retaliation for an ambush earlier this month in Palmyra that killed two American soldiers and an interpreter.

Syria’s new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has pledged to work with the US and European partners to fight remaining ISIL elements. On Wednesday, Damascus said it arrested a leading ISIL figure in the country.