Turkish security forces arrested eight suspected members of the Islamic State jihadist group in an operation in the southern Turkish province of Mersin on Wednesday.
Security sources quoted by the Turkish state news agency, Anatolia, have indicated that the operations are still active in an attempt to arrest two other suspects, without their identities having been revealed.
Thus, they have indicated that all of them would have given financial and logistical support to the jihadist group and would have been active in conflict zones, in apparent reference to Syria and Iraq, where the group established its ‘caliphate’ after a blitzkrieg offensive in 2014.
Islamic State confirmed on November 30 the death of its leader, Abu al Hasan al Hashemi al Quraishi, who had taken over after the death in February of Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Quraishi during an operation carried out by US special forces in the Syrian province of Idlib (northwest).
Following this, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Joe Buccino indicated that Abu al Hassan was killed in mid-October during an operation by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) – backed by Turkey – in the southern Syrian province of Daraa, in what he described as «another blow» to the terrorist group, which has lost three leaders since the 2019 death of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
