Numerous raids

Turkey: 119 suspected IS members arrested

(Bild: X.com/Ali Yerlikaya (Screenshot))

Turkish police have arrested 119 people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia this week. The suspects were arrested in 23 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to reports.

Arrests were made in the densely populated regions of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, among others, as Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on the online service X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. He had already reported 65 arrests in connection with IS last week.

"I want our nation to know this: We will fight continuously with your prayers and support until the last terrorist is neutralized!", Yerlikaya wrote on X (see post below).

More than 3600 arrests since June 2023
According to the authorities, more than 3,600 suspects have been arrested in Turkey since June 2023. Some of these suspected IS members have settled in Turkey following the collapse of the jihadist group's self-proclaimed "caliphate" in 2019.

At the end of January, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a Catholic church in Istanbul in which one person was killed. In 2017, 39 people were killed in an IS attack on a discotheque in Istanbul.

At the end of April, the Turkish authorities arrested a man in Istanbul who was allegedly planning a bomb attack. Turkey has been stepping up its efforts against the terrorist militia for some time now.