Ankara- Turkish security forces raised the state of alertness across the country following Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s recorded message stating an attack on Turkey, Thursday, especially in cities where ISIS militants are mainly centered.
Gaziantep governorate, south Turkey, has witnessed security alert by police after the publishing of the voice record as police forces spread all over the city when they received notices that terrorist operations will be carried out by ISIS militants in the city.
Security forces also warned citizens from gathering in public areas.
Police forces established security barriers on the borders of Gaziantep Security Directorate; they cut off the roads before the directorate so that people and vehicles could not pass by and they took extensive security measures in all security centers in case of any terrorist attack.
In a recorded message, Thursday, al-Baghdadi urged all his followers to wage all-out war and take the fighting into Turkey.
Al-Baghdadi said that the terror group’s militants will “unleash the fire of their anger” on Ankara, apparently referring to Turkish troops stationed at a base outside Mosul, as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s diehard rhetoric, which has fanned fears that Turkey plans to unilaterally intervene in Iraq.
In a common matter, Istanbul also carried out extensive and unprecedented security measures as a mass number of special police forces headed towards the metro station, leading to Ataturk International Airport, which was attacked by ISIS suicide bombers on June 28 and killed and wounded a great number of passengers.
In an unprecedented measure, the officers were ordered to inspect all the metro passengers before entering the stations.
Moreover, the number of security forces guarding the airport was added, in addition to many vital and touristic areas in the city.
Notably, in the past few weeks, Turkish security forces were able to abort many attacks by ISIS militants, targeting different cities and areas, and they were able to kill a number of suspected suicide bombers.