Istanbul police nab ISIL terrorist plotting attacks on synagogues
ISTANBUL
Istanbul police have detained an ISIL terrorist who was determined to be planning a “sensational” and high-profile attack against the Jewish community in Türkiye, security sources said on Feb. 20.
Law enforcement recently intercepted intelligence indicating that Abdulmalik A., an Uzbek national linked to the Asian unit of the ISIL terrorist organization, was to be dispatched to Türkiye with the intent of executing such an operation.
True to the intelligence, the suspect subsequently entered the country “through legal channels” from a European nation, with no prior criminal record to his name, the sources said.
Investigations revealed that the individual was plotting attacks on certain synagogues and Jewish schools, both within Türkiye and some other countries, the sources said, without providing further detail.
Authorities uncovered the plot by infiltrating encrypted messaging platforms used by radical Salafist networks.
The suspect was in close contact with a foreign national, with details about the timing remaining unclear.
The police apprehended him in the basement of a house in Istanbul’s Fatih district as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation.
Authorities are now examining his local connections and potential accomplices. After questioning at the Istanbul Police Department, he was brought before a court and arrested.
Following the incident, additional security measures were reportedly implemented at synagogues and Jewish schools amid concerns over possible ISIL threats, local media reported.
The Jewish community in Türkiye has been targeted before, most notably on Nov. 15, 2003, when al-Qaida militants bombed the Neve Shalom and Bet Yaakov synagogues in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu and Şişli districts, killing 20 people and injuring more than 250.
