Turkish police eliminated a potential suicide bomber, allegedly associated with the Daesh jihadist group during an anti-terrorist operation in Ankara, local Anadolu news agency reported, citing a source in the security forces.
A special police unit conducted an operation in one of the Turkish capital’s districts after receiving information that a Daesh terrorist had been plotting a suicide attack, Anadolu reported. A counter terror squad had tracked the suspect to the ninth floor of a building on the outskirts of Ankara, where he was killed in a gunfight at around 3 a.m. after opening fire in response to a police call to surrender.
The investigators found a large quantity of explosives in the house of the alleged terrorist. Gov. Ercan Topaca told reporters there were suspicions that the suspect planned to target public ceremonies in the capital. It said the man was registered in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır and was born in 1992.
On Monday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Ankara was concerned about the members of Daesh, a group outlawed in many countries, that could flee Iraq’s Mosul amid the ongoing operation to liberate the city launched Monday.
