Senior IS member captured: Erdogan
International Desk
Turkish security forces captured one of the senior executives of the Islamic State (IS), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Thursday.
Turkish police and intelligence captured Bashar Hattab Ghazal al Sumaidai, code-named Abu Zeyd and Master Zeyd, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.
His connections in Syria and Istanbul had been followed for a long time, and intelligence information was obtained that he would enter Türkiye illegally, Erdogan said.
Istanbul police found out that al Sumaidai had been using a fake identity and props to disguise himself, Erdogan said.
After Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abdul-Nasser Qardash, Abu Zeyd was one of the most important leaders of the group, the Turkish president said.
