Two armed and masked ISIS terrorists attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Sunday mass on January 28.
One person was killed in the attack, which was captured on security camera footage.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said masked gunmen shot and killed one person during Sunday mass at a church in Istanbul https://t.co/FLIXYiCV5f pic.twitter.com/gLJyPZBRkK
– Reuters (@Reuters) January 28, 2024
The identity of the victim has not been revealed, but local reports say his initials were CT and he was 52 years old.
Armed attackers attacked the Santa Maria Church in Sariyer district at 11:40 a.m., Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
Medan Medi, the official media outlet for ISIS in Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack.
It's official now.
Midan Medi, the official media outlet of ISIS in Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack on a church in Istanbul today. https://t.co/AMvpWm5cMV pic.twitter.com/1NggURepuG
– Chatay Cebe (@Mucagcebe) January 28, 2024
Yerlikaya told reporters that authorities raided more than 30 locations across Istanbul and arrested 47 people.
Al Arabiya News reported that two people were arrested in connection with the attack and are believed to be linked to ISIS. They were captured in one of the recent raids.
“Both suspects are foreign nationals. One is from Tajikistan and the other is Russian, and we have assessed them as being from ISIS.”
The Al Arabiya report noted, “Yerlikaya said that the Turkish authorities arrested 2,086 people suspected of having links to ISIS during 1,046 operations since June 2023, and 529 people were arrested.”
