DUSHANBE, March 25, 2016, Asia-Plus –
Radio Liberty
reports that police in southern Turkey have reportedly detained five men from Russia and Central Asia who allegedly planned to join the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria.
Turkish media quoted law enforcement officials in the city of Gaziantep as saying that the men detained late on March 23 were from Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
According to the reports, the suspects confessed they had planned to cross the Turkish-Syrian border and join the IS group.
Officials in Russia and Central Asian states say hundreds of their citizens have joined the IS militants in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Some of them have left along with their families.
