Police detain over 39 ISIL suspects in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Police detained 39 people, including 32 foreigners, for their alleged links to the Islamic State Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Istanbul on Oct. 16, according to a police source.

Counter-Terrorism teams from the Istanbul Police Department carried out simultaneous operations on 15 different addresses in eight districts of the city.

Eight women and two children were among the detainees, who were all taken to hospital for initial medical examinations. Police also seized a number of digital and organizational documents during the raids.

Meanwhile, one of the suspects detained by police in an operation on Sept. 21 is reportedly related to the main suspect of the Jan. 1 Reina nightclub attack in Istanbul, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The suspect, who is of Afghan origin, was arrested by the court on Oct. 14.

IT specialists of the Istanbul Police Department had detected digital traces indicating the suspect’s relations with ISIL via his mobile phone records. The specialists accessed conversations between the suspect and Reina attacker Abdulkadir Masharipov, as well as photographs of key locations in Istanbul.

The suspect was reportedly trained in ISIL camps in Afghanistan three years ago and entered Turkey three months ago, according to police sources.

At least 39 people, including a police officer, were killed when a gunman opened fire on partygoers at the nightclub in Istanbul’s Ortaköy district in the early hours of Jan. 1 this year.

On Jan. 16, Masharipov was captured by police in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district. Four other suspects, including a man of Kyrgyz origin and three women, were also detained.