Acting on a tip from the US government, Turkish authorities have arrested a senior Islamic State operative in Istanbul, the latest in a string of arrests of jihadis in Turkey, state-run Turkish radio and television reported today.
Mustafa Abdulwahab Mahmud, a 32-year-old Egyptian who was a top explosives expert for IS, was detained with three other suspects in Istanbul after fleeing Syria, TRT said, following a tip from US intelligence services. In early May, Turkey arrested an Afghan national code-named Basim described as the “right-hand man” of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself to avoid capture by US forces in October 2019 after he was tracked down in a hideout close to the Turkish border.
