Türkiye has announced that security services foiled an ISIS attempt to carry out a terrorist bomb attack in Istanbul.
“An ISIS terrorist member who allegedly planned a bomb attack, was detained in Istanbul’s Beykoz district,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media platform X on Monday.
The suspect was arrested during an operation dubbed “Bozdogan 32.”
The Minister said that Turkish security services found that an individual identified by the initials K.A., belongs to the terrorist organization, and has knowledge of bomb making. The suspect was allegedly planning to carry out a bomb attack in Istanbul, he added.
Yerlikaya then explained that the counter-terrorism forces arrested the man at his workplace in the Beykoz region.
The suspect was testing with another person whether an explosion would occur with the chemicals he used.
Yerlikaya said that the chemical substances seized during the raid at the suspect's apartment “were capable of causing large-scale explosions.”
Also, during the operation, the minister said six others were detained on suspicion of ISIS links. A large quantity of bomb-making materials was seized.
“No terrorists will be tolerated. The security services will continue their fight against terrorism with determination,” the Minister affirmed.
Last week, Yerlikaya revealed that Turkish security services have conducted 1,422 operations against ISIS between June 1, 2023 and April 22, 2024.
He said 2,991 suspects were caught in the operations, with 718 arrested and 566 placed under judicial control.
Recently, ISIS renewed its activities in the country after a pause of seven years.
ISIS claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Türkiye between 2015 and 2017, which killed more than 300 and wounded dozens. Türkiye designated the group as terrorist in 2013.
ISIS said the attack on the Church was “in response to calls by ISIS leaders to attack Jews and Christians everywhere.”
The shooting at the church in Istanbul marks the first ISIS attack in Türkiye since 2017, when Abdulkadir Masharipov (alias Muhammed al-Khurasani), a man from Uzbekistan, has carried out the New Year's gun attack at Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
Since the deadly attack, Turkish security services have carried out continuous raids on ISIS cells and operatives.
The operations have so far led to the arrest of thousands of suspects, the deportation of nearly 3,000 people, and the denial of entry to the country to more than 5,000 foreign nationals.
