British IS Fighter 'Planned Imminent Attack'

[Honoria]

British IS Fighter 'Planned Imminent Attack'

Aine Leslie Davis, who is being held in Turkey, was plotting an atrocity likely connected to the Paris attacks, officials say.

17:41, UK, Thursday 19 November 2015


By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent, in Istanbul

A British Islamic State fighter arrested on the eve of the Paris attacks was plotting an imminent attack in Europe, senior intelligence sources have told Sky News.

Aine Leslie Davis was arrested by Turkish police at a villa just a couple of hours away from Istanbul - and the attack he was planning was likely connected to the one in Paris.

He was also an associate of Mohammed Emwazi - better known as "Jihadi John" - who was killed by a US drone attack on the day he was apprehended.

Davis and other IS members based themselves in a quiet, upscale neighbourhood called Silivri. He had five accomplices, some of whom were also European.

They rented a safe house, where it is thought they were preparing to attack Istanbul or another European city.
Mohammed Emwazi, widely referred to as Jihadi John
Video: Jihadi John: Special Report

According to security sources Sky News has spoken to, it is no coincidence that Davis was caught just a day before the Paris attacks.

His movements in and out of Syria were tracked by Turkish intelligence and shared with their British counterparts.

Davis is believed to have left Islamic State's self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa in Syria, on 7 November.

He crossed illegally into Turkey through the town of Kilis before moving on to the southern Turkish city of Gazientep, spending a night in a safe house.

On 9 November, he took a bus to Silivri - and three days later, two Turkish special forces teams arrested him.

As the investigation is ongoing, officials in Ankara were coy about what they could say on camera.

But Cemalettin Hashemi, the Prime Minister's senior advisor, told us: "Well, they weren't here for holiday, not for a touristic visit … We believe that they were planning a certain kind of terrorist activity and we believe they have concrete links with Daesh (IS)."

This year alone, Turkish security forces say they have detained more than 1,000 people thought to have ties to IS - and 700 suspected foreign fighters were also deported in the first half of this year.

More than 30 suicide vests, 300kg of explosives, and dozens of rifles, handguns and grenades have been seized by police this year, according to official figures given to Sky News.

According to Mr Hashemi, these raids are now happening on an increasingly regular basis.

A couple of years ago, there could have been a six-month gap between attempted terrorist attacks - but now, there are such incidents every one or two months.

"It's a huge threat and it's becoming bigger day by day," he told Sky News.

Turkey is still reeling from a string of attacks claimed by IS in the past few months.

Islamic State is the prime suspects in last month's Ankara bombing. It was the worst in Turkey's history, killing more than 100 people.

But Turkey has also faced much criticism, and has been accused of keeping its border with Syria intentionally porous in order to facilitate the movement of fighters for their own political gain.

However, special forces officer Metin Gurcan says he is sensing a change in policy by politicians - who now appear to be prioritising the threat posed by IS.

He told Sky News: "After the Paris attack I can say that the Turkish political decision makers have been taking this issue much more seriously, and they have been much more co-operative than they were."

Mr Gurcan believes that despite this shift, Turkey does not have the capacity to deal with the thousands of fighters moving in and out of the country.

"Islamic State is not an ideology," he explained. "It's a mentality, and this is hard to fight against."

Syria has become a training ground for tens of thousands - with attacks from the militants who leave claiming hundreds of lives from Ankara to Paris.

The two cities may share in their grief, but a common policy to combat IS remains elusive.

Until then, the threat they pose is likely to grow.

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