Turkish authorities issue suicide attack warning amid Syria talks, after tip on al-Qaeda linked group

GAZİANTEP – Doğan News Agency

Authorities have issued a bomb warning in Istanbul, Ankara and the southern province of Hatay, following a tip off that an al-Qaeda linked group was preparing to organize a suicide attack, Doğan News Agency reported on Jan. 21. 

Turkish intelligence reached information that 20 militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were planning attacks to disrupt this week’s Geneva II peace talks, the report said.

The militants were particularly planning to target hotels and meeting rooms where members of the Syrian opposition and the Free Syrian Army stay were staying or holding meetings.
Intelligence units have informed the Police Department and the Gendarmerie General Command to take extraordinary security measures. 

“[We have] determined that 20 ISIL members were planning to organize suicide attacks in our country. Hotels in Hatay are considered among the primary targets. Besides Hatay, big hotels and meeting centers in Ankara and Istanbul are also [among the targets],” an intelligence document obtained by Doğan News Agency warned. 

“The suicide bombers have a list of names that were determined as primary targets,” the document added.

The talks, known informally as “Geneva II,” will be held in Montreux on the opposite side of the Leman Lake, between Jan. 22 and Jan. 24.

Reyhanlı in the southern Turkish province of Hatay was hit by a deadly attack killing 53 people and injuring over a hundred on May 11, 2013.