Turkish authorities have detained three people suspected of belonging to the Daesh terrorist group and of plotting an attack targeting celebrations o
Turkish authorities have detained three people suspected of belonging to the Daesh terrorist group and of plotting an attack targeting celebrations of Turkey’s national day on Tuesday, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
The detentions came two days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border.
The three suspects are believed to have been preparing an attack to disrupt Republic Day celebrations in Istanbul, Anadolu said.
On Tuesday Turks were marking the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish anti-terrorism and intelligence police units established that the suspects had been in contact with people who would provide logistic support for the attack, Anadolu reported.
It was not immediately clear whether the planned attack was directly linked to the killing of Baghdadi. Turkey has said it shared information with the United States, its NATO ally, ahead of the raid in northern Syria and that it is proud to have helped bring “a notorious terrorist to justice”.
The death of Baghdadi is a severe blow to the group, which has been in disarray and has no declared successor as leader yet. But it has in the past proved resilient, continuing to mount or inspire attacks in the region and beyond despite losing most of its territory in recent years.