Daesh suspect with red notice nabbed while trying to enter Turkey

Turkish security forces on Friday arrested eight people suspected of having links to the Daesh terrorist group, including a suspect sought with red notice.

Seven of the suspects were involved in various activities for the terrorist group and were also providing financial support, the security sources said, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

They were arrested in simultaneous operations in the country's Istanbul, Manisa, and Hatay provinces.

A large number of digital materials and organizational documents was seized in the raids, the sources added.

Separately, four people trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria were held on the southern Hatay border, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

It added that one of the four people was a suspect sought with red notice over alleged links with Daesh.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh a terrorist organization.

Turkey ranks first among the countries that have faced the most attacks at the hands of Daesh. The organization has carried out terrorist attacks against Turkey both inside and outside Turkey. A total of 309 civilians and security forces have been killed and 1,338 injured in suicide bombings, other bombings and gun attacks by Daesh, which has carried out 20 attacks against Turkey since 2014.

In response, Turkey launched counterterrorism operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.

“Turkey is the only NATO country fighting the terrorist group Daesh on the front line,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said recently. He also said that Turkey has disabled the financial structure of Daesh and so far 4,500 militants have been eliminated in Syria and Iraq.

"Daesh, despite its withdrawal, is still a threat," he emphasized.