MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-SYRIA-MILITANTS DETAINED Five IS militants arrested at Turkey border - security forces

Record ID: 151514

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-SYRIA-MILITANTS DETAINED Five IS militants arrested at Turkey border - security forces
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: AKCAKALE, TURKEY (JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) ARMOURED MILITARY VEHICLES STATIONED ON BORDER TURKISH SOLDIERS MOUNTING SECURITY AS THREE MEN SEEN RUNNING BEHIND FENCES TURKISH SOLDIERS RUNNING TOWARDS FENCES TO SEIZE THE MEN TURKISH SOLDIERS ON APC LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS TURKISH SOLDIERS POSITIONED IN TRENCHES THREE MEN RUNNING AND ENTERING TURKISH MILITARY ZONE / TURKISH
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD3DO46ET4LS50E0DDQAY4IOEM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkish soldiers arrested five Islamic State militants who crossed into Turkey, security sources told Reuters on Tuesday (June 16).
    The arrests were made on Monday (June 15) as the men tried to cross over from the Syrian town of Tel Abyad.
    The five militants were taken to counter-terrorism division at a police station in southeastern province of Sanliurfa, security sources said.
    Video footage shot on Monday showed three men, who the authorities said were Islamic State militants, running towards fences and being detained by Turkish soldiers upon their entrance to Turkey.
    Syrian Kurdish-led forces said they had captured Tel Abyad from Islamic State on Monday.
    The capture of the town by the Kurdish YPG and smaller Syrian rebel groups means the Syrian Kurds effectively control some 400 km. (250 miles) of the Syrian-Turkish border that has been a conduit for foreign fighters joining Islamic State.
    While the advance has brought the well-organised YPG deep into Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa province, it has also concerned Turkey, which is worried the expansion of Kurdish sway risks inflaming separatist sentiment among its Kurdish minority.
    The YPG has been the only significant partner to date in Syria for the U.S.-led alliance that is bombing Islamic State. The YPG now controls the border from Syria's far northeastern corner to just east of the town of Jarabulus. That is Islamic State's last remaining border crossing with Turkey.
    Tel Abyad, on the border with Turkey, has been a main conduit for Islamic State to smuggle weapons and oil.
    Turkey views the YPG as part of the PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against Ankara and is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register