Five ISIL militants captured on Turkish border

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

A total of five foreign national Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants were captured on March 20 as they were attempting to infiltrate Turkey through its southern borders, security sources have said.

Security forces at the Görentaş border patrol detained three ISIL militants in the southern Hatay province while they were trying to cross from Syria into Turkey illegally.

In a separate incident, two ISIL militants, including a woman, were detained in an attempt to cross the Turkish-Syrian border illegally by officers of the Ermiş border patrol in the southeastern Gaziantep province.

The suspects were later handed to gendarmerie officers.

The captures came at a time when the Turkish security forces are on high alert to catch ISIL militants who have been detected inside the country and are allegedly in a pursuit of carrying out attacks across Turkey in crowded places.