Turkish Police Foil ISIS Plot in Bursa

Two members of the police special forces patrol outside a police station after an attack in Istanbul, Turkey | (Reuters)
Two members of the police special forces patrol outside a police station after an attack in Istanbul, Turkey | (Reuters)
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Turkish Police Foil ISIS Plot in Bursa

Two members of the police special forces patrol outside a police station after an attack in Istanbul, Turkey | (Reuters)
Two members of the police special forces patrol outside a police station after an attack in Istanbul, Turkey | (Reuters)

Turkish security forces foiled an ISIS plot to attack Bursa police station and arrested the terrorist who had planned the attack.

Security sources said the police teams in Bursa were also examining surveillance footage in the region after five furniture workshops were burned by arson in July.

The footage showed suspect recording arson footage by his cellphone and decided to further conduct investigations. The suspect was seen leaving the scene on a red bicycle, which counter-terrorism teams found in front of a house, the source added.

Police units then raided the house of the suspect, identified as M.A, and found ISIS flags, three explosive devices, a suicide vest, and materials used in bomb-making.

The suspect was arrested and confessed to being a member of ISIS terrorist organization. He admitted that he contacted the group members through the Internet as he did not have a SIM card in his phone.

He also confessed to burning down the factories upon instructions from ISIS leaders, and that he was active in Syria in 2017-2018 as the terror group’s member where he received bomb training.

The suspect reported that he illegally came to Turkey two years ago and that he was planning to bomb the police station in Bursa.

The terrorist organization had previously claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks in Turkey over the past years, which resulted in the deaths of over 300 people and the injury of hundreds.

The most recent ISIS attack was on New Year's Eve 2017 in the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, which killed 39 people and injured 69 others.

The Turkish security services are carrying out continuous campaigns against the organization’s cells that have resulted in the arrest of over 5,000 of its members.

During the past five years, more than 3,000 ISIS terrorists were deported outside the country, while the authorities began in November 2019 to deport foreign ISIS fighters and their families to their countries of origin after the death of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US airstrike in Idlib.

More than 200 of ISIS elements have been deported, and about 900 others are waiting in deportation centers.



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.