Turkey says detained 14 would-be ISIL militants, frees 1

Turkey says its security forces have arrested 14 people en route to join ISIL Takfiri terrorists by crossing the border into Syria.

The Turkish army said in a statement on Wednesday that the group, which consisted of 13 foreigners and a Turkish citizen, were detained in a village in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on January 9.

The statement added that the Turkish citizen was released later while the 13 others were handed over to authorities for questioning and ultimately deportation to their countries.

The group appears to be the largest one Turkey has said it has detained. The statement did not reveal the nationality of the would-be militants.

The army said that it arrested one person en route to join the Takfiris on Sunday, a few days after four others were detained in the southeast of the country.

Turkey has long been under fire for its perceived reluctance to crack down on militants using its territory to travel into Syria.

The ISIL terrorists were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government.

The Takfiris, who control swathes of land in Syria and Iraq, have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.