Ankara – Turkish security forces neutralized 41 terrorists in operations it carried out in different cities last week, announced the Interior Ministry on Monday.
It said in a statement that the security forces carried out, in the period between October 2 and 9, 1,648 raids against terrorist organizations.
The ministry added that eight terrorists surrendered, 15 were arrested and 18 were killed during the raids.
The statement added that the Turkish security forces also detained 136 people on suspicion of supporting terrorist groups, 52 people on suspicion of belonging to ISIS and 27 people on suspicion of belonging to banned left-wing terrorist organizations.
Moreover, Turkish counter-terrorism forces carried out a series of successful operations against ISIS during the last few days, during which six Syrians were arrested in the western city of Bursa on Friday, revealed security sources.
In this context, the Turkish authorities announced on October 3 that security authorities arrested ISIS Commander Abou Youssef, aka Khaider Karim, during a security operation in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Abou Youssef is an Iraqi citizen, whom Iraqi authorities had previously declared to have been killed.
Turkish authorities said that the Special Investigations Office of Sakarya province received information that Abou Youssef was alive and living in Ankara.
Based on the investigation of the Special Investigations Office, a Turkish counter-terrorism units raided his house and arrested him. The units also found 40 fake ID cards in his house.
Abou Youssef was handed over to Sakarya province Public Prosecution Office that charged him with “genocide”, “belonging to a terrorist organization” and “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order”.
The arrested terrorist had been an active member of the al-Qaeda terrorist group since 2011. He defected from it in 2014 and joined ISIS, becoming one of its commanders in al-Anbar governorate in Iraq.
The Turkish security forces have been carrying out several campaigns against ISIS since the beginning of this year after the organization was involved in more than one bombing and terrorist attacks in different parts of Turkey in 2016 and early 2017.