Turkey detains five IS suspects ‘planning polling day attack’

ISTANBUL: Turkish police yesterday detained five suspected IS jihadists in Istanbul accused of planning a ‘sensational’ attack targeting the weekend referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Police detained the five, including one citizen of Tajikistan, in simultaneous raids on three districts, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

It said they were acting on intelligence of a planned ‘sensational’ attack on Sunday’s tightly contested referendum. It did not give further details. Turkish authorities already detained 19 suspected Islamic State ( IS) supporters in the Aegean city of Izmir on Tuesday, accused of planning to sabotage voting in the referendum.

In the latest issue of its magazine al-Naba, IS had called for attacks against polling stations in Turkey.

Turkey has been hit by a series of attacks in the last 18 months blamed on IS and Kurdish militants.

The last major attack claimed by IS was on Jan 1 when an armed man stormed an Istanbul nightclub and shot 39 people dead during New Year celebrations. — AFP