Eight suspected militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including two children, were captured on Dec. 3 in an operation in Istanbul.
Police teams carried out a raid at an address in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul, capturing six adults and two children, who were allegedly preparing to cross over to Syria to fight for ISIL.
The raid came after police in the eastern province of Van detected that the father of the children had sent his sons to Istanbul on Nov. 9 to join ISIL.
The police informed Istanbul’s counter-terrorism bureau they found that the children arrived at a bus station in Istanbul on Nov. 10, and that were picked up by a suspect to be sent to the address in Sultangazi.
While the six suspects were arrested by a court, the children were released and were handed over to their aunt.
Meanwhile the father of the children, who was previously detained on charges of membership to al-Qaeda, testified at the police headquarters in the southeastern province of Van, said he sent his sons to Istanbul to receive religious education, not to join ISIL.