Police detains 445 people suspected of IS links

In Turkey, police have detained 445 people suspected of links to the Islamic State terror group. Co-ordinated raids were carried out in 18 provinces yesterday, Anadolu News Agency reported. Most of those held are foreigners, among them 60 people taken into custody in the capital, Ankara, it said. IS claimed responsibility for the New Year shooting attack on an Istanbul nightclub which left 39 people dead.

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police arrested an Uzbek national, Abdulkadir Masharipov, suspected of mounting the assault on revellers at the Reina nightclub. In yesterday's operations, nine suspects who are alleged to have been planning a terrorist attack were held in the Aegean province of Izmir, Anadolu reported. Many of the suspects were detained in provinces bordering Syria - 150 in southeastern Sanliurfa and 47 in the city of Gaziantep.