Turkey has captured a top member of the Islamic State terror group responsible for operations on its territory, the interior minister announces.
The jihadist group has claimed responsibility for a spate of deadly attacks in Turkey, including an assault on an upscale Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s Eve festivities just minutes into 2017, which left 39 people including an Israeli tourist dead.
“Daesh’s so-called Turkey emir (commander) has been captured and detained,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweets, praising the Turkish police.
The minister was using a pejorative Arabic acronym for the extremist group.
Speaking to reporters later, Soylu identifies the suspect as Mahmut Ozden, adding that he was captured after the August 18 arrest of another IS member who was allegedly planning an attack in Istanbul.
The suspect received orders from Syria and Iraq and was also asked to organize small-scale protests in Turkey, Soylu says in televised remarks.
The minister says police had also uncovered plans for several IS attacks, including a kidnapping plot.
“There’s an ongoing operation” to locate other suspects, he says.
— with AFP
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