The Turkish Interior Ministry has announced the arrest of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) member who helped organise the Sultanahmet and Suruç suicide attacks.

Süleyman El Aggal was caught in an operation in Şanlıurfa on 11 January.

The Ministry of Interior announced the arrest in a statement. “Twelve German citizens lost their lives in the Sultanahmet attack in 2016 and 33 people died in the Suruç attacks in 2015. Azzo Halaf Süleyman El Aggal, one of the organisers of those attacks, was arrested by Şanlıurfa Province Police Department and the MIT Regional Office”.

What happened?

At least 33 people died and dozens more were injured in an ISIS suicide bombing on 20 July 2015 in the Turkish city of Şanlıurfa (Riha), which is across the border from Kobani, where Kurdish fighters defeated ISIS militants.

The blast hit a cultural centre in the small town of Suruç, where young people from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations were gathered for a press conference before a planned visit to Kobani to assist with its reconstruction.