Over 100 suspected ISIL members arrested in Türkiye

ANKARA

Türkiye arrested over 100 suspected members of the ISIL this week, authorities said Friday, the latest mass detention targeting the terror organization.

Türkiye has been hit by several major attacks claimed by ISIL, including a 2017 nightclub shooting that killed dozens of people.

The fresh raids took place across the country, including in the capital Ankara and Türkiye's largest city Istanbul, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The arrest of 119 people this week follows other mass detentions, including 99 announced in early August.

Since the 2019 collapse of the self-proclaimed "caliphate", some suspected ISIL members have settled in Türkiye.

Turkish authorities said that since June 2023 more than 3,600 people with suspected ties to the terrorist group have been arrested.

Two of the assailants who massacred 145 people at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow last March, an attack for which ISIL claimed responsibility, had spent several weeks in Türkiye before heading to Russia, according to local authorities.