Police capture two ISIL bombers in Turkish capital ahead of New Year’s Eve

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

HÜRRİYET photo

Counter-terrorism police units captured two Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bombers in Ankara preparing for a New Year’s Eve attack in an operation conducted in the capital’s Mamak district on Dec. 30, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has stated.

The two ISIL suicide bombers, identified as M.C. and A.Y., entered Turkey from Syria and were scouting the capital’s central Kızılay square and nearby bars, the location of many New Year’s Eve celebrations, for two separate attacks.

Police also seized suicide vests and explosives reinforced with steel balls and sticks during the raid.

The suicide bombers had reportedly prepared more effective bomb set-ups than those used in the Oct. 10 Ankara bombings and aimed to injure more people.

A total of 103 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in two explosions by ISIL that shook a road junction in Ankara on Oct. 10, the largest single terror attack in the country’s history, ahead of a “peace” meeting.