Turkey Arrests Albanians After 'Terror’ Attack

Turkey's state-run Anadolu News Agency reported on Friday that Interior Minister Efkan Ala had said two of the arrested "terrorists" were Albanian nationals, while the third was from Kosovo. 

The shoot-out in the central Turkish province of Nigde on Thursday left three people dead, including a soldier and a police officer.

"The terrorists opened fire from a taxi that they rented in the southern province of Hatay," Ala said.

"A number of hand grenades, bullets and guns have been found in the bags they left behind,” he added.

The men opened fire after being stopped at a police checkpoint near the town of Ulukisla and tried to make their escape in a truck before being arrested.

Their third victim was the driver of the truck, according Turkish media reports.

The report of the attack comes amid concerns that a growing number of Albanians are being drawn to join al-Qaeda groups fighting in the conflict in Syria.

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, ISRA, a think tank based in King's College, London, believes some 300 Albanian fighters, from Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, have joined the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra or the Islamic State of Syria and Levant, ISIL.

Most Albanians that have joined the fight in Syria enter the country through Turkey. The Turkish media say the attackers are believed to have been members of a radical militant group.

Last week, eight people, including two radical imams were arrested in Albania, believed to be members of a network that recruited fighters for the al-Nusra front.