Turkey: Captured IS figure planned Russia, Germany attacks

Turkey’s interior minister has identified a key Islamic State suspect captured by the country’s forces in Syria as the alleged mastermind behind attacks in Russia and Germany

Turkey’s interior minister has identified a key Islamic State suspect captured by the country’s forces in Syria as the alleged mastermind behind attacks in Russia and Germany.

Turkey announced last week that it detained an “important” IS figure but did not name him.

In an interview published in Hurriyet newspaper Friday, Suleyman Soylu identified the man as Yusuf Huba and described him as a high-ranking IS member who planned and ordered an attack in Russia in 2018 as well as an attack at a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany.

Soylu said the suspect was being held and questioned in Syria, in an area controlled by Turkey.

He told Hurriyet: “We have captured a very senior IS member who is known as a bomber, bomb-maker and mastermind of suicide bomb attacks.”