IS prisoner claims group planned to attack Incirlik air base

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Intelligence arrested an Islamic State (IS) member that was helping plan an attack on the US military base in Turkey, the Iraqi Federal Judiciary Authority reported.

They released the confessions of an IS inmate currently held in an Iraqi prison who said IS planned on attacking Incirlik air base in the city of Adana, southern Turkey.

An experienced engineer, the detainee said IS instructed him to monitor the locations and prepare suicide bombers to launch the attack.

According to the confessions released on the Iraqi Federal Judiciary Authority website, Abu Osama said he finished college at Mosul University, majoring in civil engineering, and worked with a German company that constructed roads and bridges in the city.

He then moved to Germany for a short period of time to continue his studies.

Abu Osama told Judiciary Authority Media Center (JAMC) that following his return to Mosul he was unemployed for a year and a half.

“Most of the companies left Mosul because they were concerned that IS extremists would occupy the city,” he said.

“After IS occupied Mosul, I heard Abu Bakir al-Baghdad called for people with expertise to join the Islamic State and I decided to join the group in one of the famous mosques in Mosul. Then we were divided to different groups,” Abu Osama told JAMC.

He said that he was ordered to join the Development Divan where according to him they “went under extensive training on creating bombs and launching rockets at Mosul University" which was used by IS extremists as their base.

He added that the Head of Development Divan ordered him to move to Raqqa, the IS capital in Syria, and reside in one of the IS hotels.

Abu Osama explained that he was in contact with IS senior members through the internet, stating that “after staying for a week in Raqqa, they ordered me to illegally move to Turkey for an assignment."

Federal Judiciary Authority states that “Abu Osama was arrested by the Iraqi Intelligence Forces in Ataturk Airport in Turkey’s Istanbul,” but did not provide further details.

Editing by Ava Homa