Turkish security forces reportedly disrupted planned terrorist attacks targeting Christmas and New Year celebrations, arresting over 100 suspected operatives of the Islamic State.
On Christmas Day, Turkish authorities carried out raids at 124 locations across Istanbul, apprehending 115 IS suspects, news agencies reported citing the chief prosecutor's office.
What we know about the planned terror attacks
As per news agency AFP, Istanbul's prosecutor general had ordered the arrest of 137 people based on intelligence indicating targeted terror attacks planned for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera, citing the prosecutor's office, reported that these planned attacks were meant to target "non-Muslims in particular".
What we know about the arrested IS suspects
Of the 137 suspects whose arrests were ordered, 22 are yet to be tracked down.
Those who have been arrested, meanwhile, were involved in financing IS activities and spreading Islamist propaganda.
The prosecutors office also said that those arrested had been in contact with IS operative outside Turkey, underscoring the transnational nature of IS activities.
The arrests are the latest in Turkey's efforts to stifle IS activities, with the country having emerged as a target for the group, given its demographics and its long, shared border with Syria, which still remains a stronghold of IS activities.
Thursday's arrests also come just five days after US forces launched extensive strikes against IS positions across Syria, hitting more than 70 targets. The American attacks targeting IS positions were a response to an earlier ambush in Syria that left two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter dead.
Turkey's campaign against IS
Turkey has, for over a decade now, been carrying out a campaign against IS: earlier in March this year, Turkish authorities had arrested nearly 300 suspected IS operatives in raids spanning across 47 provinces.
Turkey had declared the Islamic State a terrorist organization back in 2013, and up until 2023, had arrested nearly 20,000 individuals for having alleged ties with the group.
In the same period, more than 7,600 foreign nationals suspected of engaging in foreign armed group activity were also deported, as per the Turkish presidency.
