Turkey arrests 90 suspects linked to Islamic State in nationwide sweep

Turkish authorities have arrested 90 individuals suspected of having links to the Islamic State (IS) group in a coordinated operation across 24 provinces.

The arrests come two weeks after a shootout outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul that left two police officers wounded.

The detainees include members of the terrorist organisation, financiers, and individuals involved in disseminating propaganda, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry.

These arrests follow an earlier sweep in which 198 people were detained the day after the consulate attack.

Authorities have not officially linked the recent arrests to the consulate shootout.

One of the three gunmen killed during that incident was connected to a terrorist organisation that instrumentalises religion, though officials did not explicitly name IS.

This operation is significant given Turkey's history of IS-related attacks, including the 2015 suicide bombings at a peace rally in Ankara that killed 103 people and the 2017 nightclub attack in Istanbul that resulted in 39 deaths.

Trials related to the Ankara attack remain ongoing.

At the end of December, three Turkish police officers were killed during an anti-IS operation in Yalova province, where six suspects were also killed in prolonged clashes.

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