Raids across Istanbul and intelligence operations abroad disrupt alleged Islamic State plans targeting Christmas and New Year celebrations globally.
Turkish authorities say they have disrupted a major Islamic State plot targeting Christmas and New Year celebrations, arresting 115 suspected terrorists in coordinated raids across Istanbul as part of a sweeping counterterrorism operation.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the arrests followed intelligence indicating that ISIS had issued a call for attacks, specifically urging violence against non-Muslims during the holiday period. Police carried out simultaneous raids at 124 locations across the city, detaining 115 of 137 identified suspects, according to prosecutors. Firearms and ammunition were seized during the operations.
The arrests come amid heightened security concerns in Turkey, which has repeatedly been targeted by ISIS in the past decade. Officials said the operation was launched to prevent imminent attacks and to dismantle active sleeper cells believed to be operating in urban areas.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency separately reported that Turkish intelligence agents recently captured a senior ISIS operative near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a covert cross-border operation. The suspect, identified as Mehmet Goren, is described as a Turkish national and a senior member of ISIS-Khorasan, the group’s Afghanistan-based affiliate.
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Anadolu said Goren was transferred to Turkey after his capture and was allegedly tasked with organizing suicide attacks in Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of Europe. Authorities said his detention disrupted planned attacks and yielded intelligence on ISIS recruitment networks and operational planning. It remains unclear when the operation took place or whether local authorities in the region assisted.
ISIS has carried out several deadly attacks in Turkey, including a mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on January 1, 2017, that killed 39 people and marked one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country’s history.
The developments come as the United States intensifies its own campaign against ISIS in Syria. Last week, two U.S. service members and an American interpreter were killed in an ambush near Palmyra, while three other U.S. troops and several Syrian security personnel were wounded. U.S. officials said the attacker, who was later killed, had infiltrated Syria’s internal security forces.
Following the attack, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation,” blaming ISIS for the assault. Days later, U.S. forces carried out what officials described as a large-scale strike on roughly 70 ISIS-linked targets across central Syria, including weapons depots and operational infrastructure. Additional strikes are expected, U.S. officials said.
While ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the Palmyra attack, the group has acknowledged carrying out other recent assaults against Syrian security forces, underscoring its continued threat despite years of sustained military pressure.