News / Turkey

Turkish police arrest 101 with links to Daesh terror group

Thursday, 09 November 2017 10:18 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 November 2017 11:48 AM ]

Turkish anti-terrorism police stand by their armored vehicle during an operation to arrest people over alleged links to the Daesh terrorist group, in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, February 5, 2017. (Photo by AP)

Turkish police have detained 101 people suspected of having links to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the capital, Ankara.

On Thursday, police conducted a string of simultaneous raids on more than 250 locations, after authorities issued arrest warrants against a total of 254 suspects, the official Anadolu news agency reported.

No further details were immediately available on the operation.

Turkish officials say Ankara has detained over 5,000 Daesh suspects and deported about 3,290 foreign militants from 95 different countries in the past few years.

In recent years, Daesh militants have carried out a series of gun and bomb attacks in Turkey. According to figures released by the country’s Interior Ministry, over 300 have been killed in major assaults.

The presence of purported Daesh members in Turkey seems to be a side-effect of Turkish support for anti-Damascus militants in Syria.

Earlier in October, Qatar’s former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim revealed how the United States coordinated support by Doha, Riyadh and Ankara for militants operating against the Syrian government over the past years.

Hamad said Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey sent their weapons for militant groups in Syria via the US military forces in the region.