Persecution of Christians

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Jan. 2 claimed the deadly nightclub attack in Istanbul targeting New Year's revelers, which left 39 dead and 65 wounded, Reuters has reported.

Turkey detained a staff journalist for The Wall Street Journal for almost three days without access to a lawyer, the newspaper reported on Dec. 31, adding to growing concerns over press freedom in the country.

A total of eight militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been detained by the anti-terror branch of the Ankara Police on Dec. 31. The militants were detained at the end of a security operation.

Police belive the eight ISIL militants were planning to carry out a terror attack in the New Year's eve.

Turkish security forces have arrested more than a thousand people for their suspected links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkey's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Dec. 28.        

In 2016, a total of 3,359 people were detained and 1,313 of them were arrested for their links to ISIL.         

A Turkish man has paid 150,000 Turkish Liras to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to retrieve his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, who were taken to Raqqa by his son in 2014 to live under the banner of the group, daily Habertürk reported on Dec. 28.  

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) wants to spread fear through a video it published online which showed two men dressed in Turkish military uniforms burn to death, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Dec. 27. 

The main opposition party has asked the Office of the Prime Ministry about a video released by the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which allegedly shows two Turkish soldiers being immolated, in a written parliamentary questionnaire.

The Islamic State published the names and addresses of thousands of churches in the United States and called on its adherents to attack them during the holiday season, according to a message posted late-night Wednesday in the group’s “Secrets of Jihadis” social media group.

In the district of Al-Giza al-Bahriya in Libya's Sirte, the sea breeze mingles with the stench of corpses decomposing under the rubble.

The coastal neighborhood was the last part of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) north African bastion to fall to unity government-allied forces on Dec. 5 after nearly seven months of fighting.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere confirmed Dec. 21 that authorities have identified a new suspect in the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, one day after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 12 people.