Turkey's Interior Ministry announced Monday that 28 Daesh terrorists were captured in operations between Jan. 22 and 29, including a suspect who was believed to be trained as a suicide bomber.
A statement from the ministry said that one terrorist was captured dead, whereas 21 others were captured alive and six other surrendered to security forces.
One of the suspected terrorists include Demet Yaşar, who was on the blue category of Turkey's terror blacklist with a 1.5 million Turkish lira ($398,000) bounty on her head. Yaşar, whose name was mentioned by Turkish media outlets as a suspected Daesh militant trained for suicide bombing, was also being sought by an Interpol red notice.
Daesh has targeted Turkey for its active role in fighting the terrorist group, dismantling its funding and apprehending foreign fighters flow into battle zones in Syria and Iraq, retaliating through a string of attacks and bombings in the country in 2015 and 2016. The terrorist group was responsible for Turkey's deadliest attack killing 109 people and injuring more than 500 others when two Daesh suicide bombers detonated themselves at a peace rally on Oct. 10, 2015, in the capital Ankara.
Yaşar's name was frequently cited within a terror cell after a Daesh suicide bombing that killed five people and injured 100 others during a rally of pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on June 5, 2015.
The Interior Ministry statement added that 819 domestic security operations were carried out by the Gendarmerie Special Forces, Police Special Forces, gendarmerie commandos and army and air force branches of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
In these operations, a total of 4,377 people were detained throughout the country, with 1,166 for suspected ties to terrorist groups (PKK/KCK, 450, far-left terror groups, 34, Daesh, 59, and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), 623), 3,139 for narcotics and smuggling and 72 for illegal migration.
Dozens of firearms and ammunition were seized in the operations, in addition to illegal drugs, smuggled cigarettes and millions of liras-worth of fuel.
In addition, 311 others were detained for terrorism propaganda on social media related to the Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin, the statement noted.
