Turkish police nab 65 ISIL suspects in major op

ANKARA

Turkish security units have apprehended a total of 65 ISIL terror suspects in a series of operations spanning the past five days across more than 10 of the country’s 81 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said.

The individuals were identified as having engaged in various activities on behalf of the terrorist organization, Yerlikaya said in a social media post on Aug. 23.

They were targeted in 17 provinces, including the capital Ankara, Istanbul and the Mediterranean province of Muğla.

In a separate operation conducted later in the day, police executed a successful raid in the western province of Manisa, apprehending suspects who were identified for disseminating pro-ISIL propaganda via social media.

Among the detained individuals, one is 48 years old, while the other two are 32, according to media reports.

Searches conducted at the suspects' residences yielded an array of digital materials and prohibited publications.

Turkish authorities have made several mass arrests of alleged ISIL members in recent years, most recently a roundup of 99 people on Aug. 2 and of 147 people in March.

Türkiye has faced a series of ISIL-linked attacks in recent years, including one on a Catholic church in Istanbul in January.