15 ISIL suspects detained in Turkey

ISTANBUL/KOCAELİ - Anadolu Agency

Security forces detained 15 suspects across the northwestern provinces of Istanbul and Kocaeli for alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a police source said on Aug. 7.

Counter-terrorism squads carried out simultaneous raids to apprehend suspects in several addresses in Istanbul and Kocaeli, just to its east, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

During the raids police also confiscated a pump rifle and organizational documents, the source added.

To date, at least 319 people have lost their lives in ISIL terror attacks in Turkey, where the organization has targeted civilians in suicide bombings as well as rocket and gun attacks.

Security forces have pursued a long-running campaign to rid Turkey of ISIL militants.

The group’s attacks include the October 2015 suicide bombings that killed 107 outside the main train station in the capital Ankara and a suicide bombing in July 2015 which killed 32 in Suruç district in the southeastern Şanlıurfa province.

An Ankara court on Aug. 3 handed down heavy sentences to nine suspects in a trial on the Ankara train station attack.

The nine suspects were each handed 101 life sentences over the twin bombings. They were also given additional sentences of 10,557 years each for seeking to kill the hundreds of people who were present at a rally outside the train station.

Other ISIL attacks include the 2017 New Year’s Reina nightclub massacre in Istanbul that killed 39; the August 2016 child suicide bomber attack on a wedding in Gaziantep, killing 57; and a bomb-and-gun attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport in June 2016 that killed 47.