Turkey arrests senior Islamic State figure, police say
The arrest came after a series of security warnings by several foreign diplomatic missions in Turkey about potential attacks on Westerners last month.
ANKARA — Turkish authorities recently arrested a senior Islamic State figure in Istanbul, Turkish police announced Wednesday.
Acting on Turkish intelligence, Istanbul police caught the man, who was only identified by his initials M.M.B. and his code name Abu Huzaifah, during a raid at his hideout in Istanbul, according to an official statement.
The militant is suspected to have held senior positions in the jihadi group in Syria, including serving as an Islamic State “judge” in Raqqa, Manbij and Tell Abyad, Istanbul police said. An Istanbul court ordered the suspect to remain in pre-trial detention.
It wasn’t immediately clear when he traveled to Istanbul and how long he’d been operating from there.
