World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey has deported 5,000 suspected terrorists and banned 53,000 from travelling to Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

“More than 3,000 ISIL terrorists, including the heads, were neutralized in Operation Euphrates Shield,” Erdogan added in an Ankara news conference with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

He said suspected terrorists from South Asia were among the thousands deported from Turkey.

Euphrates Shield saw Free Syrian Army fighters backed by the Turkish military take territory in northern Syria from ISIL between August last year and March.

The operation had led to Turkey “completely” clearing its borders of ISIL and allowing 100,000 Syrians to return to their country, Erdogan said.