Turkish Police disarm man carrying explosives, weapon

Turkish police have disarmed a man carrying 14 kilograms of explosives and a firearm near a shopping center in the western city of İzmir.

A police team performing a routine road check early Thursday morning in İzmir's Gaziemir district, stopped a suspicious person and found the weapons in a bag he was carrying, the authorities said.

Police took precautions against the possibility of the explosives being controlled by remote, closing the street to traffic and evacuating nearby citizens.

The suspect has been taken to the Anti-Terrorism Branch of İzmir Police Department and an investigation is ongoing. Due to security reasons, no information on the suspect has yet been released.

On Wednesday, Turkish police detained seven suspected ISIS members in an operation spanning Turkey.

Police found two guns, a ISIS flag and many organizational documents during the searches conducted in İzmir's Buca and Menemen districts. Searches also took place in Isparta and Erzurum provinces.

İzmir anti-terror police said investigations into the suspects began after receiving information that some alleged ISIS members, who took part in fighting across the border in Syria, had returned to Turkey.