Burqa-clad ‘ISIL militants’ turned out to be men en route to clandestine tryst with their girlfriends

Two men detained as suspected jihadists in the province of Mardin in south eastern turkey were actually wearing burqas to disguise themselves in order to visit their girlfriends secretly, police have found.



According to a Jan. 21 statement issued by the Mardin Governor’s Office, the two burqa-clad men, identified only by their initials M.D. and Z.T., were detained by police as suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

The two were “unmasked” after a police team noticed that one of the burqa-clad “women” was actually wearing men’s shoes. Security forces took the suspects to a nearby police station as a precaution against a possible lynch attempt after a local crowd had gathered.



“The investigation has revealed that the men were wearing burqas to hide their love affairs,” the Mardin Governor’s Office stated. The men had resorted to the burqa disguise in order to clandestinely visit their girlfriends, whose families oppose their relationships.