A total of 536 suspects were captured in operations against the Daesh terrorist group in 57 provinces in the past 12 days, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday.
“Operation Mace” was carried out in coordination with prosecutor’s offices, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the counterterrorism department of the police, Yerlikaya said in a social media post.
Since the 2019 collapse of their self-proclaimed “caliphate,” some suspected Daesh members have settled in Türkiye, operating a so-called Khorasan Province (Daesh-K) network, which looks for “new methods” and recruits more foreign members for its activities after constant counterterrorism operations became a “challenge.”
MIT thwarted the terrorist group’s efforts for recruitment, obtaining funds and logistics support after its latest operation in the aftermath of a church shooting in Istanbul in January.
Turkish authorities said that since June 2023, more than 3,600 people with suspected ties to the terrorist group have been arrested.
Daesh remains the second biggest threat of terrorism for Türkiye, which faces security risks from multiple terrorist groups and was one of the first countries to declare it as a terrorist group in 2013.