Authorities in Turkey said they averted major attacks that had possibly been planned for Christmas and New Year’s eve by making mass arrests of suspected Islam State group members.
Turkish intelligence agency officials confirmed on Thursday that they disrupted possible IS-linked attacks inside the country by arresting 115 people.
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Akin Gurlek, said mass raids were carried out at 124 different locations across the capital city of Ankara, leading to the recovery of firearms, ammunition and “organisational documents” that were seized.
The IS operatives and their supporters had been actively planning attacks across the country this week, especially against non-Muslims, the officials further shared, saying they were on the hunt for 22 others.
The arrested individuals were in constant contact with IS operatives and handlers located outside of the country, authorities claimed.
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The announcement of the action comes days after Turkish intelligence agents carried out a raid against the militant group on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The country’s officials have since been tasked with finding out and tracing the remaining links of the Afghanistan-based IS network, which they allege is planning to target Turkish civilians.
Turkish intelligence agency has continually targeted suspected members of IS, which finds its origins in the Iraq of 2000s. The group later became a global terror network and played a destructive role in the Syrian civil war.
Turkey shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, where the group continues to operate in parts of the country.
Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has close ties with the Turkish government, has vowed to work with the US and Europe in rooting out surviving elements of IS.
Recently, the United States launched a wave of air strikes against the IS-linked hideouts in Syria in response to the killing of three US servicemen.
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