July 05, 2017•Update: July 05, 2017
By Yusuf Koyun, Abdullah Ozkul and Necat Hazar
VAN/ADANA, Turkey
Turkish police arrested Wednesday 25 people with alleged links to Daesh in nationwide counterterrorism operations.
In a statement, Van Provincial Directorate of Security said Van-based simultaneous raids were conducted in Istanbul, Izmir, and western Kocaeli and Denizli, eastern Agri and Bingol, southeastern Adiyaman and Mardin provinces.
The operations aimed to thwart planned attacks and uncover the organization's activities, the statement said.
Separately, 12 Daesh suspects -- arrested in two recent operations in southern Adana province -- were referred to the court on Wednesday, a police source said.
Daesh's so-called "Adana head" A.C. (32) and a 14-year-old Indonesian girl are among the suspects, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions over speaking to the media.
Two of the suspects were planning to conduct attacks abroad while some others were plotting to attack meetings of some religious communities in central Konya and southern Gaziantep provinces, the source said.
Nearly 190 suspects linked to Daesh were arrested in nationwide counterterrorism operations across Turkey last month, according to information from security officials.
An Anadolu Agency analysis of security announcements showed that 20 of 188 Daesh suspects -- including foreigners -- were remanded in custody to face trial on a variety of charges.
