Turkish police arrest 3 linked to Paris attacks

ISTANBUL – Turkish police have arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan origin on suspicion he scouted out the target sites for Islamic State in attacks that killed 129 people in Paris a week ago, a Turkish government official said on Saturday. The official, confirming a report by the

Dogan news agency, said two other men were also arrested, without giving details.

The Belgian, Ahmet Dahmani, was arrested at a luxury hotel in the southern coastal city of Antalya. Dogan said the 26-year-old had been staying in a five-star hotel in the popular tourist destination since Nov. 16.

Two other men, both Syrian citizens, were also arrested and detained on a nearby highway on suspicion they had been sent by Islamic State in Syria to ensure Dahmani’s safe passage across the border and were planning to meet him, the Dogan news agency said.

The police, citing court sources, identified the two men as 29-year-old Ahmet Tahir and 23-year-old Muhammed Verdi.

Counter-terrorism police first became aware of Dahmani when he arrived on a flight to Antalya and tracked him to the hotel in the Manavgat district of the city,

Dogan said. Separately, Turkey deported a group of Moroccans detained at Istanbul’s main airport this week over suspected links to IS.

The eight, who said they had arrived at Ataturk airport on Tuesday night from Casablanca for a holiday, were detained by border police and questioned by profiling experts who flagged them as suspected militants, a government official said.

In Brussels, the alert status was raised to the highest level yesterday as the public was advised to avoid crowds because of a “serious and imminent” threat of an attack.

Belgium has been the center of investigations into the Paris attacks after it emerged that two bombers had been living there. –