ANKARA: Turkish police on Sunday killed in Ankara two suspected members of Daesh believed to have been planning an attack in the capital, the regional governor said.
The two were killed during a police operation on their residence in the Etimesgut district of Ankara after a gunfight with officers, state-run news agency Anadolu quoted regional governor Ercan Topaca as saying.
The raid was launched on the basis of testimony from a suspected Azerbaijani Daesh member who was detained by Istanbul police after allegedly driving the two men to Ankara.
“This (police) operation was quickly planned after this suspect said they and the two others he left in Ankara were Daesh members and planning an attack,” Topaca said.
He said police opened fire after the two suspects themselves fired on the security forces.
After “neutralizing” the two men, guns and hand grenades were found, Topaca said.
Although the identities and nationalities of the two men have yet to be confirmed, Topaca said they believed they were aged between 25 and 30.
“We believe they were planning an attack likely in the next few days. The weapons, explosives were effective and powerful,” he said.
During the past 18 months, Turkey has been hit by a wave of attacks blamed on Daesh and Kurdish militants, killing hundreds in cities like Istanbul, Ankara and the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
The raid comes nearly six months after a Daesh gunman killed 39 people in attack on the elite Reina nightclub during New Year celebrations in Istanbul.
The shootout took place as Ankara was hosting a special congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that was set to again choose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its chairman. But there was no indication of any link to the congress.
Ankara police kill suspected Daesh men planning attack
Ankara police kill suspected Daesh men planning attack
US plans meeting for Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ in Washington on Feb 19, Axios reports
- The Axios report cited a US official and diplomats from four countries that are on the board
- The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction, are in early stages and could still change, Axios reported
WASHINGTON: The White House is planning the first leaders meeting for President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” in relation to Gaza on February 19, Axios reported on Friday, citing a US official and diplomats from four countries that are on the board.
The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction, are in early stages and could still change, Axios reported.
The meeting is planned to be held at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, the report added, noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on February 18, a day before the planned meeting.
The White House and the US State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
In late January, Trump launched the board that he will chair and which he says will aim to resolve global conflicts, leading to many experts being concerned that such a board could undermine the United Nations.
Governments around the world have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation to join that initiative. While some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, many of its traditional Western allies have thus far stayed away.
A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized the board and countries working with it to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire began in October under a Trump plan on which Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan revealed late last year, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said it would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.
Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure and have criticized the board for not including a Palestinian.The fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly violated, with over 550 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since the truce began in October. Israel’s assault on Gaza since late 2023 has killed over 71,000 Palestinians, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced
Gaza’s entire population.
Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.









