Turkey detains 6 more suspects over airport attack

Turkish authorities have detained six more suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group suspected of involvement in last week's deadly suicide and gun attacks against Istanbul's main airport, a report said Friday.

The six, all foreigners, were detained Thursday in a police raid on a house in the Basaksehir district of Istanbul on the European side of the city, the Dogan news agency reported. Their nationalities were not specified.

They would appear before a judge in an initial hearing later on Friday, it added, without giving further details.

According to Turkish media, 30 suspects including 14 foreigners have been remanded in custody on charges of involvement in the attack on June 28. The figure does not include the latest six detentions.

Turkey has blamed IS for the June 28 gun and triple suicide bomb attack at Ataturk international airport. According to Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan, 47 Turkish and foreign citizens were killed.

Authorities have said that a number of citizens of ex-USSR republics are among the suspects, raising concerns over the threat to Turkey from Islamist militancy in the Central Asia and the Northern Caucasus.

Turkish media have identified the strike's organiser as Akhmed Chatayev, a one-armed Chechen who leads an IS cell in Istanbul and allegedly masterminded other deadly attacks in the city.

Turkey has been rocked by a series of attacks over the past year, blamed on both IS jihadists and Kurdish rebels.

Source: AFP