Turkey detains 2 would-be Daesh suicide bombers

Turkish police on Monday detained two suspected would-be suicide bombers linked to Daesh near the border with Syria, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.
Anadolu Agency said the two were detained in Sanliurfa province together with their suicide vests and explosives. 
The arrests came a day after Istanbul police detained some 40 foreign nationals suspected of links to Daesh in raids in the city’s Fatih neighborhood. Those detained included nationals from Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, Anadolu reported, adding that some of them had traveled to conflict zones in Syria several times.
Anadolu Agency said police launched simultaneous raids on 23 addresses in the city’s Fatih neighborhood late on Sunday. 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, said Turkey could create a 5,000 sq. km safe zone in Syria by pushing further south in its military operation in the country.
Turkey launched its operation in northern Syria on Aug. 24, sending in tanks and special forces to support opposition fighters in a bid to remove Daesh and Kurdish militia forces from its border.
So far the Jarabulus and Al-Rai regions have been cleared of Daesh militants, Erdogan said, adding that forces would now go “downwards toward Al-Bab” city.
The Daesh bastion of Al-Bab is 30 km from Al-Rai on the Turkish border and in the battleground province of Aleppo. “(Already) an area of 900 sq. km has been cleansed of terrorist elements (Daesh). This is now going south,” Erdogan said, referring to Ankara’s operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield.”
The president added in televised comments that the zone already cleared “could be extended to 5,000 sq. km as part of a safe zone.”
Turkey is home to some 2.5 million Syrian refugees but Erdogan suggested Turkey’s actions could see more returning to safe areas.

Source: Arab News