Turkish authorities have arrested 147 people suspected of belonging to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday March 26. These suspects were arrested in thirty of the country’s 81 provinces, the minister said in a message posted on X.
Forty people suspected of belonging to the IS group were arrested on Sunday in eight provinces of the country, according to the authorities. Since June 1, 2023, a total of 2,919 people suspected of belonging to the jihadist group have been arrested in the country, the Minister of the Interior said.
A Turkish security source also told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that two of the suspects arrested for their participation in the attack perpetrated on Friday near Moscow and claimed by ISIS had spent several weeks on Turkish soil, before return to Russia by plane on March 2.
“The two individuals were free to move without hindrance between Russia and Turkey in the absence of an arrest warrant against them,” said this official on condition of anonymity, for whom “these two individuals were radicalized in Russia given their short stay in Turkey”.