Turkish police have arrested 400 suspected members of the Islamic State terrorist organisation in several provinces, state media said, the biggest roundup to target the organisation in Turkey
The state-run news agency, Anadolu, reported on Sunday that 150 of the suspects were arrested in the southern province of Sanliurfa on the border with Syria.
The report stated that 60 suspects were arrested in the capital Ankara, with majority of those arrested non-Turkish nationals.
Other raids were carried out in Istanbul, in the western city of Izmir, in the southern city of Adana and in Konya in the centre of the country.
The Turkish Government holds Islamic State responsible for several terrorist attacks in Turkey.
Most recently, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the New Year’s Eve attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul in which 39 people were killed.
The main suspect in that attack has been arrested and remained in police custody.
The Turkish army has been involved in the fight against Islamic State in neighbouring Syria since August 2016.
The Turkish Air Force launched a series of airstrikes around the city of al-Bab in northern Syria over the past 24 hours, Anadolu reported on Sunday.
The report claimed that 33 Islamic State fighters had been “neutralized,” the military term for killed, injured or arrested.
Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported that Islamic State had retaken control of the town of Bazaah near al-Bab the previous day following a counter-attack against Turkish-backed Syrian rebels that involved suicide attacks.
(dpa/NAN)
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