Turkish police detain more ISIL suspects: Report

ISTANBUL - Agence France-Presse

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Turkish police on Nov. 7 detained seven foreign nationals in southern Turkey on suspicion of planning to head to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), state media said. 

The detentions were part of a series of police operations against suspected ISIL members across Turkey, which is on high alert ahead of a G-20 summit of world leaders on Nov. 15-16. Anti-terror police launched a dawn raid at a hotel in the southern Adana province and detained the suspects, a French couple of Tunisian origin and five Indonesians, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported, adding that they were scheduled to be deported on Nov. 7 along with two children, one of whom is disabled. 

Turkey is imposing tight security ahead of the G-20 summit at the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, which will bring together a host of leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Police on Nov. 6 also carried out simultaneous raids in Antalya, detaining 20 people suspected of links to ISIL, including two Russian nationals and two women. They also detained 44 Moroccans and their Syrian guides at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on suspicion that they were planning to head to Syria.

Turkey has stepped up operations against ISIL since the group was blamed for twin bombings on a peace rally in Ankara last month that killed 102 people, including two suicide bombers, the worst such attack in its history.