Turkey detains IS suspect planning attack on police

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish police have detained a suspected Islamic State group militant who was allegedly planning to attack a police station, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Thursday.

Anadolu Agency agency reported that the suspect, identified by the initials M.A., was held in an operation in the district of Inegol in northwestern Bursa province. Police seized a suicide vest and other explosive material, according to the report.

The suspect was being monitored by police following five separate arson attacks on businesses in Inegol in the past two months, Anadolu reported.

Anadolu said the suspect had entered Turkey illegally two years ago and had carried out acts on behalf of the I.S. group in Syria between 2017 and 2018.

Turkey has suffered a string of attacks by Islamic State militants over the last five years, including an attack at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations in the early hours of 2017. The attack killed 39 people, most of them foreigners.