ISIL militant who killed himself aimed to bomb stadiums, parties

Reconnaissance notes were found in the apartment of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) member who blew himself up on Oct. 16, showing that the group attempted to revive ongoing tensions among the divergent segments of Turkey’s society.

Inspections in the apartment found reconnaissance notes indicating descriptions of places where the group planned to conduct terror attacks in the future. These places included the Alevi Cultural Association in Gaziantep, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) events as well as ultranationalist hearths’ buildings, stadiums and mosques. 

The discovery prompted strong suspicions that the group was planning to hasten the friction among members of Turkish society and ignite an environment of conflict inside the country. 

A statement released on Oct. 16 by the Interior Ministry said the dead bomber, Mehmet Kadir Cebael, along with another militant, who also blew himself up in another raid on the same day, killing three police officers, were plotting simultaneous armed and suicide attacks, particularly targeting events organized by Alevis and the provincial headquarters of the HDP. 

The statement added that Cebael, the reported Gaziantep provincial leader of the group, had been on the ministry’s list of “wanted terrorists” in the orange category, before being killed in the second raid. 

Doğan News Agency reported that Cebael was assigned as the provincial leader of the organization after Ercan Çapkın was arrested in April and that he was also among the suspects mentioned in the indictment over the Ankara suicide bomb attack which claimed 102 lives on Oct. 10, 2015.