About 115 alleged members of Daesh suspected of planning attacks over the end of the year have been arrested in Turkiye, Istanbul’s prosecutor general said Thursday.
His office said he had ordered the arrest of 137 people, of whom 115 have been detained so far, “following intelligence indicating that the Daesh terrorist organization was planning attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations”.
Turkiye shares a 900-kilometer (559-mile) border with Syria, where terrorist groups are still active.
Washington recently blamed a lone Daesh gunman for an attack in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13 that killed two American soldiers and one American civilian.
This week, the Turkiye intelligence service also conducted an operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and captured a Turkish national it said had a leading role in Daesh.
At the time of his arrest, Mehmet Goren, since being transferred to Turkiye, was accused of organizing suicide attacks targeting civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkiye and Europe.
