Security forces arrested four suspected senior members of Daesh in the Aegean province of Izmir on Friday, according to a security source.

The counter-terrorism unit of the Izmir police and the national intelligence service conducted a joint operation in which the terror group’s “Emir” of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor region and three other ringleaders were arrested, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The so-called Emir, who was allegedly involved in the massacre of 700 people in Syria in December 2017 and is said to have close relations with Daesh terror group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was trying to cross into Europe.

At least 319 people have lost their lives in Daesh terror attacks in Turkey, where the terror organization has targeted civilians in suicide bomb, rocket-and-gun attacks.