Three Russian citizens were arrested in a raid on a suspected ISIS terror cell in Turkey after a deadly suicide bombing in Istanbul.
ABC News, citing the Turkish Dogan news agency, reported that military officials said that the arrests were made in the southern city of Adana. The three individuals detained are believed to be linked to ISIS. It was unclear whether the arrests were made in direct connection with the Istanbul bombing, for which the Turkish prime minister has said ISIS was responsible.
Russia’s consulate in Turkey confirmed the arrests of three citizens to state media but said it had not yet clarified the reasons behind the detention.
A suicide bomber set off an explosion in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district, which is popular with tourists, Tuesday that killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 others. At least eight of the dead are German nationals, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference Tuesday that the bomber was a Syrian national born in 1988. Later, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the suspect was a member of ISIS, the terror group behind the deadly November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Turkey, a NATO member, and others are part of a U.S.-led coalition to fight ISIS in the region. Russia has also launched a military intervention in Syria with the purported goal of fighting ISIS, however the country has also appeared to target U.S.-backed Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
"Today Istanbul was hit; Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before," Merkel said Tuesday. "International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today."
Terrorism concerns have heightened in the U.S. following the bombings and shootings in Paris and the terror attack in San Bernardino, California, carried out by ISIS supporters that killed 14 people.