Suicide vests, bombs seized in Turkey amid ISIL terror alarm

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – Ankara

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters detonate a land mine laid by ISIL fighters on the front line in the Gwer district, 40 kilometers south of Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, on Oct. 18. AFP PHOTO/ SAFIN HAMED

Turkish security forces have seized suicide vests, bombs and guns in a recent raid, after the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) warned of possible terrorist attacks by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

Ten AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, 2,280 bullets, 40 hand grenades, 14 kilograms of TNT and nine suicide vests were seized during an Oct. 19 raid in the southeastern province of Gaziantep. Two men, who are suspected to have brought explosives and guns for suicide attacks from abroad, have been detained.

The aids were the result of an intelligence report that warned that ISIL had sent suicide bombers to Turkey.

The suspicions were reinforced when maps and plans for terrorist attacks were found during a raid in the central Turkish province of Konya. 

Sources say ISIL chose Konya as its coordination center for planned terror attacks not only in Konya, but also in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep.