Turkey: Police nab Daesh/ISIS terrorist

BURSA, Turkey

A Daesh/ISIS terrorist, who was plotting a bomb attack in northwestern Turkey, has been arrested Thursday, according to a security source.

Police teams in Bursa’s Inegol district examined surveillance footage in the region after five furniture workshops were burned by arson in July and August, said the source who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The teams saw a suspect recording the arson scenes by his cellphone. It was also seen in the footage that the suspect left the scene on a red bicycle, which police teams found -- by examining separate footages -- in front of a house, the source added.

Police raided the suspect’s house where they found rags of Daesh/ISIS, three explosive devices, a suicide vest and materials used in bomb-making.

The suspect, identified by the initials M. A., was arrested. He was communicating with the group members through the Internet as he did not have a SIM card in his phone.

The suspect said in his first statement that the arson was instructed by Daesh/ISIS and that he was active in Syria in 2017-2018 as the terror group’s member where he received bomb training.

The suspect, who illegally entered Turkey two years ago, confessed that he was planning to carry out a bomb attack at a police center.

Turkey was one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS as a terror group in 2013.

The country has since been attacked by the Daesh/ISIS terrorists many times. The terror group carried out 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings and four armed attacks, which killed 315 people and injured hundreds.

In response, Turkey launched military and police operations at home and abroad to prevent further terror attacks.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara