ISTANBUL (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed accountability for an assault on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul throughout a Sunday Mass that killed one particular person, in an announcement issued late Sunday.
The extremist group mentioned that it “attacked a gathering of Christian unbelievers throughout their polytheistic ceremony” contained in the Santa Maria Church within the Buyukdere neighborhood in Istanbul on Sunday.
Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya mentioned shortly earlier than midnight that two males he described as members of the Islamic State extremist motion had been arrested for the assault. One of many suspects is from Tajikistan, and the opposite from Russia.
The assertion claiming accountability was printed on Aamaq, the media arm of the militant group, together with photographs of two masked males holding weapons whom it recognized because the attackers.
It described the assault as killing one particular person and wounding one other, whereas Turkish authorities mentioned nobody was injured apart from the particular person killed.
Yerlikaya mentioned police had raided 30 places and detained a complete of 47 individuals as a part of the investigation into the assault.
“We are going to by no means tolerate those that attempt to disrupt the peace of our nation — terrorists, their collaborators, each nationwide and worldwide legal teams, and people who intention at our unity and solidarity,” Yerlikaya mentioned.
On Jan. 3 this yr, 25 suspected Islamic State members had been arrested throughout Turkey, accused of plotting assaults on church buildings and synagogues, in keeping with state-run Anadolu Company.
The Islamic State has not beforehand focused locations of worship in Turkey, however the militant group has carried out a string of lethal assaults within the nation, together with a capturing at an Istanbul night time membership in 2017 that killed 39 individuals, and a 2015 bombing assault in Ankara that killed 109.
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Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.
Robert Badendieck, The Related Press
