Turkey Reportedly Detains 20 IS Suspects

Those detained are reported to have been in touch with Isil in Syria and Iraq and two were reported to be Russian nationals.

A couple of the suspects detained on Friday are reported to be Russian. Twenty one were still being held and 20 of them were deported.

Turkey has stepped up operations carrying out a chain of fatal bombings against IS militants.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to be among the leaders attending the summit.

Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu had said authorities were planning further police and military action against suspected jihadists in Turkey in the “coming days”.

Last month, Turkey claimed it struck a major blow to an IS cell in a raid in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, in which seven militants reportedly were killed.

The governor’s office in southern Kilis province, bordering Syria, said it detained six people, five of them foreigners, who were seeking to enter the ISIL-controlled territory.

Adding to concerns about increasing IS infiltration in Turkey, two sisters aged 18 and 20 have been missing since going to an Islamist training camp in Istanbul late last month.

The government says hundreds of Turks have already joined the extremists in Syria although the actual number could be much higher.

Turkey shares a porous 911-kilometre (566-mile) border with Syria, and is hosting more than 2.2 million refugees from the war.

But most of the firepower was concentrated on Kurdish fighters based in northern Iraq, rupturing a 2013 truce between Ankara and the rebels.

It is understood a few of the suspects were in direct contact with ISIS figures in Syria and Iraq and ISIS “digital material” was found in a few properties.

Dozens of “IS” suspects have been picked up in raids across the country in recent weeks.

The country is on high alert after being hit by two terror attacks killing 135 people in total and the fear that a Turkish cell is plotting another major atrocity, such as hijacking a plane. Erdogan has vowed to press ahead with operations against all “terrorists” including Islamic State and Kurdish rebels.