“Daesh’s so-called Turkey emir (commander) has been captured and detained,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said The suspect received orders from Syria and Iraq and was also asked to organize small-scale protests in Turkey ISTANBUL: Turkey has captured a top member of the extremist Daesh group responsible for operations on its territory, the interior minister announced on Tuesday. The group has claimed responsibility for a spate of deadly attacks in Turkey, including an assault on an upscale Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s Eve festivities just minutes into 2017, which left 39 people including tourists dead. “Daesh’s so-called Turkey emir (commander) has been captured and detained,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweeted, praising the Turkish police. Speaking to reporters later, Soylu identified the suspect as Mahmut Ozden, adding that he was captured after the August 18 arrest of another Daesh member who was allegedly planning an attack in Istanbul. The suspect received orders from Syria and Iraq and was also asked to organize small-scale protests in Turkey, Soylu said in televised remarks. The minister said police had also uncovered plans for several Daesh attacks, including a kidnapping plot. “There’s an ongoing operation” to locate other suspects, he said. Turkey has stepped up its campaign against the Daesh group at home and abroad, and allowed its territory to be used as a staging post for raids by a US-led international coalition battling extremists in Syria.