Two suspected ISIL militants killed in Turkish capital

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

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Two suspected militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) believed to be planning an attack in Ankara were killed in a police raid early on May 21 in the Turkish capital Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

The suspects were reportedly staying in an apartment of the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) in the Etimesgut district’s Yapracık Neighborhood.  

Ankara Governor Ercan Topaca spoke to the press at the place of the incidents after receiving intelligence from the officials at the scene, according to Anadolu Agency. 

The two males, believed to be aged between 25 and 30, were driven to the city from Istanbul in a private vehicle by a third individual who confessed to planning an attack after being detained in an Istanbul police operation, Topaca said.  

The individual, an Azerbaijani national, told the police he was an ISIL member and directed them to an Ankara address where the two other suspected ISIL members were, Topaca said.     
 
The two individuals responded to the police raid by attempting to engage in a gunfight, but were killed by the police officers, he added.      

“Who they are is not clear; we don’t know about their identities,” he said, adding that the officials also did not yet have information about their nationalities.  

“Our colleagues are working on it; of course all evidence will be collected. After analyzing the items in the house and the suspects were carrying, we can maybe in the following hours confirm their nationalities,” Topaca said.

“As for the individual who brought them [to Ankara from Istanbul] is an Azerbaijani national, there is a possibility that the terrorists were also foreign nationals, but we cannot yet understand that from their physical appearances. That can become clear in a few hours,” he said.

A search in the address revealed weapons, hand grenades and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with high explosive power, according to Topaca.

The detained suspected ISIL member told the police that the two killed militants had planned an attack in Ankara, Topaca said. “But in such organizations, one of them [members] never knows what the other [member] will do next. He is saying that they had come to Ankara for an act, but that he doesn’t know what they were going to do,” he said. 

The locals residing at the TOKİ building complex have reportedly said they were shocked that two ISIL militants were living in the building, complaining that the flats in the complex were being rented out without proper supervision. 

One of the locals in the area, Sami Özer, told reporters that the flats were being rented at prices starting from 250 Turkish Liras per month. 

“The flats are very cheap. Real estate agents and cleaners are intermediaries between flat owners and tenants,” Özer said.