Police identify four ISIL militants suspected of killing two Syrian journalists in Turkey

ISTANBUL

DHA File Photo

Police in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa have identified four militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suspected of killing Syrian journalists İbrahim Abdulkadir and Firaz Hamadi on Oct. 29, 2015, daily Habertürk has reported.  

Abdulkadir was the managing editor of the Syrian Ayn Vatan newspaper, while Hamadi was a reporter for the same daily.

Ayn Vatan was opposed to ISIL and published reports against the jihadist organization, leading to both Abdulkadir and Hamadi receiving death threats, though neither filed a complaint with the Turkish police. 

It was also claimed after the assassinations that the two journalists were members of the Free Syrian Army, but these claims remain unsubstantiated.

The police investigation into the double homicides revealed that the assassination plot was carried out by an ISIL militant, identified as Talas El S., who befriended the journalists by introducing himself as a Syrian who had fled ISIL territories. 

Reports state that Talas eventually moved in with the journalists at an apartment in the Atatürk neighborhood of Şanlurfa’s central Haliliye district and fed ISIL intelligence on the reporters. 

On Oct. 29, Talas went to their flat at a time when he knew the journalists to be alone, alongside three other ISIL militants. The accompanying militants were identified as Abdüllatif N., İsmail El H. and Muhammed El Ş.
 
According to the police, the militants entered the house using Talas’ key and slit the throats of the reporters using hunting knives. The murderers changed their blood-stained clothes inside the house and fled. 

Although the suspects had been identified by the police, they still remain at large, allegedly outside Turkish territory.

The report in Habertürk states that three of the suspects, Talas, İsmail and Muhammed, returned to ISIL stronghold Raqqa, while Abdullatif fled to Germany.