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Police detain Russian ISIL militant planning to down US aircraft at İncirlik, attack Alevi foundation

Russian national Renat Bakiev (C) is escorted by Turkish anti terror police officers on August 10, 2017 during a medical check in Adana. Turkish authorities suspect him to be a member of the Islamic State (IS) group and accused him of planning to attack a US base in southern Turkey, a report said on August 10, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / DOGAN NEWS AGENCY / -

Turkish police on Thursday detained a Russian member of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who was reportedly planning to down a US aircraft at İncirlik Airbase in Adana with a drone and also to attack an Alevi foundation.

According to Hürriyet, Renat Bakiev was detained by Adana anti-terror police units while checking out an Alevi foundation on the city’s 5 Ocak Square on a bicycle.

According to a statement by the Adana Police Department, Bakiev borrowed TL 2,800 (nearly $800) from other militants on the Telegram messaging application, widely used by ISIL sympathizers, to buy a drone.

Bakiev defended the need to kill Alevis as he considers them “enemies of Allah,” the statement said.

During a police interrogation, Bakiev admitted to also reconnoitering the airbase for a strike.

Bakiev’s plans came to light in testimony from suspected ISIL members detained in a counterterrorism raid in Adana in June, Hürriyet said. The alleged commander of an Adana-based ISIL cell, 32-year old Abdülkerim Çakar, and 10 others were captured in the raid.

The US Air Force has used İncirlik as a staging base for the air campaign against ISIL in Syria and Iraq since 2015.

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