Turkey Arrests 4 IS Members Suspected of Planning Attack on US Embassy - Reports

13:30 GMT, 5 March 2018

ANKARA (Sputnik) – Four members of the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia), suspected of preparing an attack against the US embassy in Turkey, were arrested in the country’s north, local media reported Monday.

Sputnik

According to the Anadolu news agency, a counterterror operation was held in the city of Samsun.

The US Embassy in Turkey will remain closed on Tuesday due to a security threat, the diplomatic mission said in a statement in the wake of the news.

Prosecutors in Ankara issued arrest warrants for 20 people as part of a probe into the terrorist group Daesh*, a security source said. The source said that the arrested suspects, who are Iraqi nationals, were supposedly recruiting members for the terror group and were in contact with conflict zones.

Two of the suspects were arrested on a bus on a highway between the Samsun and Ankara. Two others were detained in Samsun.

Police are in search of other suspects, the source added.

Earlier, in another operation, four Iraqi nationals were arrested for their alleged links to the Daesh terrorist group.

Daesh terrorists have committed a number of major terrorist attacks in Europe and around the world, attacking such countries as the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia