THE number of suspects detained in Turkey in a major police operation against Daesh over the weekend has increased to nearly 750.
Anti-terrorism police launched the operation against people with alleged links to Daesh on Sunday, carrying out simultaneous raids in 29 provinces including Istanbul, Ankara and the border provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said 440 people, including foreign nationals, were detained.
The Interior Ministry later released a statement saying a total of 748 people had been detained in the police sweep. It did not provide further details or give a breakdown of the foreigners captured in the operation.
Anadolu said police seized Daesh documents, digital material and six firearms during the raids. Citing police sources, it said Daesh was “searching” for ways to carry out a “sensational attack” in Turkey, and was engaged in propaganda in order to recruit fighters.
It said the raids targeted suspects who were believed to be in contact with Daesh operatives in “conflict” zones.
Turkey has suffered dozens of deadly attacks linked to Daesh or Kurdish militants, and has been stepping up its anti-terrorism efforts.
Daesh, which claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve in which 39 people were killed, claims to have multiple cells in Turkey.
The accused perpetrator of the nightclub attack, an Uzbek national who reportedly trained in Afghanistan, was detained in Istanbul about two weeks after the assault.
Officials have said they believed questioning him would lead to valuable information about the Daesh operations and cells inside Turkey, but it was not immediately known if the major raid was in any way linked to his arrest.
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