5th Feb 2017 20:59
ISTANBUL (Alliance News) - Turkish police have arrested 60 suspected members of the Islamic State terrorist organization in the capital Ankara, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Sunday.
The majority of those arrested were not Turkish nationals, Anadolu reported, adding that other raids were carried out in Istanbul and in the western city of Izmir.
The Turkish government holds Islamic State responsible for several terrorist attacks in Turkey.
Most recently, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the New Year's Eve attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul in which 39 people were killed.
The main suspect in that attack has been arrested and remains in police custody.
The Turkish army has been involved in the fight against Islamic State in neighbouring Syria since August 2016.
The Turkish Air Force launched a series of airstrikes around the city of al-Bab in northern Syria over the past 24 hours, Anadolu reported on Sunday.
The report claimed that 33 Islamic State fighters had been "neutralized," the military term for killed, injured or arrested.
Earlier Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported that Islamic State had retaken control of the town of Bazaah near al-Bab the previous day following a counter-attack against Turkish-backed Syrian rebels that involved suicide attacks.
Copyright dpa