5 Daesh suspects planning attacks captured

Police arrested five suspects, including four foreigners, on Friday in operations against the terrorist group Daesh in Istanbul. The suspects, captured in the city's Başakşehir, Sultangazi and Pendik districts, were planning attacks in the country, security sources told Anadolu Agency (AA). Their nationalities were not revealed.

The arrests came two days after 26 foreigners linked to Daesh were captured in the city. Those suspects were also planning to launch attacks.

Turkey has been targeted by a wave of deadly Daesh attacks since 2015.

Ankara has deported more than 5,000 Daesh suspects and 3,290 foreign terrorists from 95 countries in recent years, and has dismantled several terrorist cells and safe houses that provided the terrorist group logistical assistance in Syria and Iraq, and for plotting attacks inside the country.

Turkey's efforts against Daesh made it a primary target for the terrorist group, which has carried out numerous gun and bomb attacks targeting security forces and civilians.

This includes the country's deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 102 people and wounded 400 others in a twin suicide bombing at a peace rally in Ankara on Oct. 10, 2015.

Hundreds of Daesh terrorists are headed toward Europe after secretly escaping war-torn Syria thanks to a deal that was struck between the terror group and the U.S.-backed Syrian Domestic Forces (SDF), which is mostly made up of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

According to a report published last Tuesday by The Times, the controversial deal, which has heightened Europe's security woes, allowed hundreds of Daesh militants to escape Raqqa during the evacuation of civilians, paving the way for the terrorists to enter mainland Europe via smuggling routes - a danger Turkey has warned Europe about on many occasions.