Turkey Arrests 15 Iraqis, One Syrian Over Suspected ISIS Links

A security raid on ISIS elements in Turkey
A security raid on ISIS elements in Turkey
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Turkey Arrests 15 Iraqis, One Syrian Over Suspected ISIS Links

A security raid on ISIS elements in Turkey
A security raid on ISIS elements in Turkey

Turkish security forces arrested Friday 16 foreigners in the Black Sea province of Samsun with suspected links to the ISIS terrorist organization.

Security sources said that anti-terror teams carried out simultaneous operations to arrest the suspects in the districts of Ilkadim and Atakum in northern Turkey.

The suspects included 15 Iraqi nationals and one Syrian and proved to be active among ISIS ranks. The security sources said they possessed digital materials that promoted the ideology of the terror group.

On Thursday, the anti-terror teams in western Kutahya province arrested four ISIS suspects, whose names were listed as members of terror groups in a document seized in Syria's northeastern Hassakah province in 2018.

Last week, security forces in Istanbul arrested 14 people with suspected links to the extremist organization.

The suspects included 13 foreign nationals, some of whom are suspected of being active in Syria.

The Istanbul Police Department said in a statement that the 14 suspects were arrested at 20 different venues in simultaneous anti-terror operations by police and intelligence teams.

Since 2015, ISIS has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist operations, in which more than 300 people were killed and hundreds others were injured.

Those operations include at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks.

Turkish security services have been carrying out ongoing campaigns against the organizations’ cells, arresting more than 5,000 of its members.

Over the past five years, more than 3,000 others have been deported.

Turkey launched the campaign to deport foreign fighters in November 2019, after the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid in Idlib earlier in October.



New Hampshire Hamlet Tied in First US Election Day Votes

Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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New Hampshire Hamlet Tied in First US Election Day Votes

Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ballots are counted in the US election at midnight in the living room of the Tillotson House at the Balsams Grand Resort, marking the first votes in the US election, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched Election Day in the first minutes of Tuesday with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close national polls in the White House race.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three ballots in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight Monday -- hours before the rest of the country's polling stations open.

The Democratic vice president and Republican ex-president have been battling in a tense and exceptionally close race, with opinion polls largely tied.

To a gathered crowd of journalists, the vote opened with a rendition of the US national anthem performed on an accordion.

Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty.

Dixville Notch's residents voted unanimously for then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, reportedly only the second presidential hopeful to get all the votes since the midnight voting tradition began in 1960.

Most polling stations on the East Coast will open at 6:00 or 7:00 am (1100 or 1200 GMT) on Tuesday.

Dixville Notch voters handed a surprise unanimous victory to Republican White House hopeful Nikki Haley in New Hampshire's primary in January.

Haley ultimately quit the race due to an insurmountable Trump lead -- but Tuesday's vote shows that three voters opted not to back the billionaire in the general election.