Police shoot dead would-be ISIL suicide bomber planning attack on police station in Turkey’s Mersin

MERSİN

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Police shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Sept. 6, preparing to attack a police station near the regional National Intelligence Organization (MİT) base in the southern Turkish province of Mersin.

Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor Mustafa Ercan said a would-be suicide bomber was shot during an armed clash with security forces at the 50. Yıl Police Station in the Yenişehir district. 

Ercan added that the authorities believed the bomber was a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“We are elaborating on the possibility that the terrorist might have been a DAESH member. We will make a detailed statement soon. An important attack was averted due to the successful work of our police team,” Ercan said, using another acronym for the jihadist group.

“A suicide vest was also seized on the militant,” he added.

The Interior Ministry later confirmed in a statement that the killed militant was an ISIL member.

Separately, the Mersin Governor’s Office said in a statement that the male suspect had approached within 50 meters of the police station and refused to obey stop warnings. 

He was later shot after putting his hand on a cable dangling from his shoulder, it said.

Works to reveal the identity of the man and his connections with terror organizations have been ongoing, the governor’s office added.

Later in the day, police conducted searches at a flat rented by the man at an address behind the police station.

His father, who was living at the flat, was taken to the police headquarters for questioning.

The owner of the flat, Sait Küçükoğlu told reporters that the man had come from Syria and said had been living in Mersin for three years. 

“They had no jobs. Relatives and others in the neighborhood would provide them with aid. We never suspected such a thing. He would come and go and we would talk. He was ill when he came back from Syria. It seemed like he had been paralyzed on one side. He had gone to the hospital for physical treatment for six months and he recovered here,” Küçükoğlu said.

ISIL militants have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey in recent years.

Security forces have so far detained more than 5,000 ISIL suspects and deported 3,290 foreign militants from 95 different countries, according to officials.