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Turkey Arrests Suspected IS Suicide Bomber


FILE - The U.S. consulate building is pictured in August 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey.
FILE - The U.S. consulate building is pictured in August 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish authorities have arrested an alleged member of the Islamic State group suspected of planning a suicide attack on the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.

Media outlets reported the suspected militant was a man of Syrian origin who was detained at a bus station in the southern city of Kahramanmaras, close to the border with Syria, and remanded in custody by a local court.

Turkish reports say he planned to travel to the city of Gazianteip to join an IS bomb-making cell, before going to Istanbul to carry out the attack.

Media identified the suspect as Mohammed Rahil al-Hardani.

Last week, the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul closed for one day, citing information about a possible terrorist attack.

Turkey is on alert for terrorist attacks following suicide bombings earlier this year in the capital, Ankara, and a town on the Syrian border. More than 130 people died in those attacks, which were blamed on a Turkish IS cell.

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