Turkey Arrests 100 Daesh Suspects

By Staff, Agencies

Turkey arrested 100 suspected members of Daesh [the Arabic acronym for terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL’ group] in raids across the country, state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday.

More than 40 Iraqis, around 20 Syrians and a Moroccan were among those detained across six provinces in recent days, including Ankara, Bursa and Batman, Anadolu said.

Turkey has stepped up raids on Daesh militants in recent months and pushed to repatriate them to their countries of origin.

It announced 20 arrests in Istanbul last week.

Turkey was accused of allowing foreign terrorists to pass easily across its border in the early years of the Syrian conflict.

But it took a much tougher response after a spate of Daesh attacks in 2015 and 2016 that decimated its tourism industry, culminating in a massacre at an Istanbul club celebrating the 2017 New Year in which 39 people died.