Turkey detains 3 Russians in raid aimed at ISIS

“Shortly after receiving information on the detention of three Russian citizens in Turkey, Russia’s foreign services contacted the Turkish authorities to clarify all the circumstances”, Zakharova said. The Syrian nationals are expected to be deported soon. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack.

In southern Mersin province, nine people suspected of Daesh links were also taken into custody.

The Anadolu Agency said anti-terrorism police conducted the raids on Wednesday, a day after an ISIS suicide bomber detonated a bomb in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, killing 10 foreigners, a lot of them German tourists.

Turkish officials identified the bomber to ABC News as Nabil Fadli, a Saudi-born man, and said he had links to ISIS in Syria. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean.

Asked whether Turkey could retaliate to the attack with aerial strikes, Davutoglu said: “I say this clearly, we would respond to every attack directed against us with the force we see fit”. On Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said the number had risen to 10.

The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists, but it was not clear if the arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing.

Hundreds of Russians, mostly from the country’s restive Caucasus region, have joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq; Russian authorities have estimated that as many 1,500 Russian citizens are fighting for the group there.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey have been high after Ankara shot down a Russian fighter jet close to the Turkey-Syria border in November. In addition, a 73-year-old man from the region was among the dead while his wife was seriously injured.

Before the meeting, she expressed her condolences with the families of the German victims.

“With you in our hearts”, the Haber Turk newspaper read.