ISIL suspects detained in simultaneous police raids in southern Turkey

Turkish police raided 21 locations in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersin in the early hours of Friday, detaining suspects with alleged links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), local media reported on Friday.

Police officers raided the homes of 11 suspects, one of whom identified as a French national, as part of an operation carried out in Mersin, while counterterrorism police in Adana raided 10 locations.

The reports didn’t specify the number of suspects detained.

Earlier this month, Turkey froze the assets of 17 individuals and four organizations, including people suspected of financing ISIL, under Law No. 6415 on the Prevention of the Financing of Terrorism, on the decision of the Treasury and the Finance Ministry.

Turkey declared ISIL a terrorist organization in 2013 and has been attacked by the jihadist group multiple times since then. A total of 315 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb blasts and four armed attacks carried out by ISIL in the country.