Three French women arrested in Turkey for IS links

Three French citizens suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group (IS) were detained along with nine children as they tried to enter Turkey from Syria.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

05 July, 2019

Turkish authorities stopped the three women, sought by Interpol [Getty]

Three French citizens suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group (IS) were detained along with nine children as they tried to enter Turkey from Syria, Turkish media reported on Thursday.

Turkish authorities stopped the three women, sought by Interpol and identified by their initials JC, CA and MD, in the border province of Kilis, according to state news agency Anadolu.

A security source told AFP that JC referred to Jennifer Clain, niece of the brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, who claimed responsibility on behalf of IS for the attacks that hit the Bataclan nightclub and other Paris locations in November 2015.

She is also married to Kevin Gonot, a French citizen sentenced to death in Iraq last May for his role in IS.

Anadolu said 12 people had been arrested and were being transferred to immigration authorities awaiting their expulsion from Turkey.

In the first years after the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Turkey was the main point of entry for foreign fighters seeking to join jihadist groups.

Accused of turning a blind eye to the problem, Ankara later tightened border controls and began widespread arrests and extraditions, especially after a spate of devastating jihadist attacks in Turkey.

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