PARIS ATTACKS: Link between Istanbul Islamic State militants arrested in Turkey and Paris attacks

Suspected Islamic State militants who were arrested in raids in Istanbul last week were in contact with the extremists behind the Paris terror attacks, according to a Turkish security official.

The group in Turkey, who were detained before the Paris attacks, include a man believed to be associated with Mohammed Emwazi, the Islamic State militant known as ‘Jihadi John’.

The suspects were detained in a raid on a luxury villa in the Istanbul suburb of Silivri on Thursday.

They were formally taken into custody early yesterday after questioning by anti- terrorism police.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the group was made up of six militants, but the security official said more than six people were arrested.

The groups in Turkey and France had exchanged messages about a terror plot in Istanbul linked to the Paris attacks, the official said.

He identified one of the suspects as British national Aine Lesley Davis. He said Turkish officials are investigating his links to Emwazi.

Meanwhile, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for an “immediate halt” to the intake of migrants into France following the jihadist attacks on Paris. Le Pen’s National Front party said in a statement that one of the attackers had arrived in Greece last month “among the mass of migrants who flow into Europe each day.”

The statement, issued three weeks ahead of regional elections in France, added: “As a precaution, Marine Le Pen calls for the immediate halt of all intake of migrants in France.”