ANKARA: Turkish authorities on Friday detained dozens of suspects over alleged links to Daesh during morning raids in two provinces, state news agency Anadolu reported.
In Ankara, 52 people were taken into custody after the capital's chief prosecutor issued 64 arrest warrants as part of a probe into the extremist group.
Raids continued to find the 12 other suspects.
Police discovered weapons including guns and ammunition at the homes of the suspects in Ankara, Anadolu reported.
And in the northern province of Samsun, 10 Iraqis were detained over suspected Daesh ties, the agency said.
Turkish authorities have conducted similar raids in the capital this year.
Just a few days before national elections in June, 14 suspected Daesh members were detained accused of planning an attack on the polls.
Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 attributed to Daesh and Kurdish militants. The last attack was in January 2017 when a gunman killed 39 people at an elite Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations.
The arrests come as Turkey has vowed to eliminate Daesh in Syria, threatening to launch an offensive soon against extremists and a Syrian Kurdish militia in the wake of the US announcement to withdraw all ground forces from the war-torn country.
Turkey detains dozens over alleged Daesh links
Turkey detains dozens over alleged Daesh links
- Turkish authorities have conducted similar raids in the past
- Arrests come as Turkey vows to eliminate Daesh in Syria
Iran temporarily closes airspace to most flights
WASHINGTON: Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.
The prohibition is set to last for more than two hours until 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but could be extended, the notice said. The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic. India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries. Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week. “Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.
“The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.” Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement. Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
