A would-be suicide bomber, suspected of being a member of ISIS, was shot and killed by anti-terror forces during a shootout in the Turkish capital of Ankara, state-run Anadolu agency reported.
The suspect was shot after ignoring demands to surrender. “Scores of explosives” were found in the suspect’s home in the Ankara neighborhood of Etimesgut, Anadolu reported.
Authorities had warned of potential terror attacks in the capital Monday, with the warning coming as coalition forces mount a major offensive against ISIS in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Ankara has been embroiled in a spat with Baghdad over the presence of Turkish soldiers in Nineveh province, northeast of Mosul, which has threatened to complicate the coordination between the two key US allies in the fight against ISIS.
Meanwhile, authorities arrested 20 ISIS suspects in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir on Wednesday, Anadolu quoted a police official as saying.
The suspects were rounded up in coordinated raids in four locations across the province and documents were seized, the report added.
The raids are not thought to be connected to the operation in Ankara.