Senior member of ISIL terror group detained in Ukraine

KYIV/KIRŞEHİR

Ukrainian authorities have announced that they have detained the assistant of Ahmed Chatayev, who is suspected of having organized a terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport in 2016, in the country’s capital city of Kyiv.

The suspect, whose name was undisclosed, is a native of one of the former Soviet countries and is a member of the ISIL terror group, according to Ukrainian media.

The suspect took part in conflicts in Syria and Iraq, was engaged in the selection and training of militants and had organized terrorist attacks, it reported.

He will initially be under detention for 40 days, and the deportation procedure has started, according to Ukrainian authorities.

In 2018, the suspect illegally arrived in Ukraine with forged documents, creating a criminal gang which included people from Central Asia and continued to coordinate ISIL cells abroad during his time in Kyiv.

Elsewhere, police in Turkey detained 11 suspects allegedly linked to ISIL in the country’s Central Anatolian province of Kırşehir, said security sources.

The police arrested 11 Iraqi nationals in simultaneous operations over their alleged terror activities in Iraq, said the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

After their medical check-up, the suspects were sent to the local courthouse. Some of the suspects had recently entered Turkey illegally.

Turkey was one of the first countries to declare ISIL as a terror group in 2013.

The country has since been attacked by ISIL terrorists multiple times.

The terror group has carried out at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks, killing 315 people and injuring hundreds more.