Two wanted ISIL militants, wife caught in raid in Gaziantep

GAZİANTEP



ISIL suspects Talha Güneş and Abdulmutallip Demir were detained, along with Demir’s wife Gamze Demir, in a police raid on their apartment in the İncilikaya neighborhood of the central Şehitkamil district.



Gamze Demir is the sister of Yunus Durmaz, the ISIL militant who blew himself up in Gaziantep in order to avoid getting caught in May.



Güneş was known to be a “chemist and bomb-maker” of ISIL and had been wanted by police with a reward of 300,000 Turkish Liras. He was reportedly coordinating with Demir, who was wanted by police with a reward of 600,000 liras.



Police reportedly identified the Demir couple’s address on Aug. 11 and had been tracking the suspects. They acted after Güneş recently joined them to carry out a plotted terror attack.



During a search inside the apartment, police found 20 kilograms of TNT, one ready-to-use suicide vest with two molds of explosives, three hand bombs, one hand-made explosive, one Glock pistol, 385 cartridges, seven empty suicide vests, material used in hand made explosive production, five detonating caps, one mechanism to activate suicide bomb system, and multiple digital materials.



Güneş is known to be the cousin of ISIL militant İsmail Güneş, who carried out the Gaziantep Police Station suicide bomb attack that killed three police officers on May 1.



Gamze Demir is known to be the sister of Yunus Durmaz, who was the mastermind behind the Suruç, Ankara Train Station, Istanbul Taksim and Gaziantep Police Station attacks.



A court in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on Sept. 1 has arrested two suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, along with one woman allegedly linked to the group, ahead of a suspected terror attack plot.