Turkish police arrest 70 suspects with ties to the Islamic State group in raids across the country

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish police detained 70 suspects with ties to the militant Islamic State group in raids this week across the country, Turkey’s interior minister said Thursday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media that large amounts of money, digital material and receipts for hawala banking transactions were also discovered in the raids. Hawala is an informal money transfer system that is traditionally used in some parts of the Muslim world.

A video accompanying Yerlikaya’s post showed vehicles sweeping out of police stations and armed officers in military gear raiding addresses, followed by searches and arrests.

In late December, Turkish security forces detained 32 suspected IS militants that the state-run Anadolu news agency said were allegedly planning attacks on synagogues, churches and the Iraqi Embassy. A week earlier, police rounded up 304 suspected IS militants in simultaneous raids across Turkey in what appeared to be a security sweep leading up to the New Year festivities.

The Islamic State group has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Turkey over the last decade, including a shooting at an Istanbul night club on Jan. 1, 2017, that killed 39 people during New Year celebrations and the bombing of a peace march in Ankara in October 2015 that killed some 105 people.

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