publish time

16/11/2015

author name Arab Times

publish time

16/11/2015

ANKARA, Nov 15, (Agencies): Turkish soldiers killed four Islamic State fighters after they came under fire from the militants along Turkey’s Syria border, local media reported. The Anadolu Agency said two cars believed to be carrying IS militants approached an armored military vehicle, ignored warnings to stop and opened fire on the soldiers. The soldiers responded, killing four militants inside one of the cars; the second car escaped, Anadolu said.

The incident occurred close to a military border outpost near the town of Oguzeli, in Gaziantep province — some 700 kms (more than 400 miles) east of the Mediterranean coastal resort where US President Barack Obama and other leaders of the world’s top 20 economies will meet Sunday and Monday.

Some of the leaders began arriving on Saturday. Police arrested four demonstrators outside a domestic flights terminal at Antalya airport, near the conference venue, Anadolu said. “Murderer US get out of the Middle East,” said placards held up by protesters, the private Dogan news agency said. Seven other demonstrators were detained in Istanbul after protesting outside the German and British consulates.

The war in Syria — Turkey’s neighbor — and Islamic extremism were already major items on the G-20 agenda, but they gained greater urgency following the terror attacks in Paris. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the deadliest attacks in France since World War II. In a show of grief and solidarity with the victims, officials said Saturday that no music will be played at dinner or other events during the twoday gathering at the secluded seaside resort of Belek, near Antalya. French President Francois Hollande canceled his trip to the meeting. Security appeared tight around the vast venue hosting the summit.

On the road from the airport, hundreds of police personnel were posted every hundred meters, and special police units patrolled frequently. Long queues of accredited vehicles came under close scrutiny with bomb-sniffing dogs checking for explosives and other hidden substances. Even after the security check point at the entrance to the main zone, metal detectors were installed in every building. In another incident, a suspected Islamic State jihadist blew himself up in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border during a police raid, injuring five officers, one seriously, officials said Sunday.

Also:ANKARA: Turkish authorities suspect a high-profile British jihadist detained in Turkey last week may have been planning attacks in Istanbul similar to those in Paris, two security sources told Reuters on Sunday. A man thought to be Aine Lesley Davis, an associate of the Islamic State militant dubbed “Jihadi John”, was detained in Istanbul last week, senior Turkish officials said on Friday. Davis was detained with a group of others who could have been planning an attack in Istanbul in parallel with the gun and bomb rampage in the French capital which left at least 129 people dead, a separate source said on Sunday. “Davis is a figure with key responsibilities within Islamic State and he wasn’t caught alone. He was within a group,” the source said.