Major operation against ISIL in Istanbul: 22 detained

İSTANBUL-KARABÜK

Some 22 people, including 14 foreign nationals, were taken into custody by police in an operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Istanbul on Feb. 17. 

The police raided 11 locations in three districts of Istanbul on the night of Feb. 16, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Digital materials and documents related to ISIL were also captured during the operation.

In the Black Sea province of Karabük, three foreign nationals were also detained on suspicion of being ISIL members, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 16.

One of the key leaders of ISIL, Ismail Alwan Salman al-Ithawi, was extradited on Feb. 15 to Iraq from Turkey to be tried on charges of playing a part in the reign of terror campaign that swept across Iraq, Syria and the region, especially after 2014. He was captured in the northwestern Turkish province of Sakarya, Agence France-Presse reported on Feb. 16.

Meanwhile, a court in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri on Feb. 16 arrested two suspects of Iraqi nationality on charges of being members of ISIL. The third suspect, of Syrian nationality, was released on a judicial control decision.