Israel's domestic security service said on Wednesday it had barred the country's Ironi Nahariya basketball team from playing a Europe Cup match in Turkey, due to "exceptional" safety concerns. Nahariya had been scheduled to play Gaziantep away in a round of 16 second leg game on February 22, after beating the Turkish side 96-75 in Israel.
Gaziantep, in south-eastern Turkey, lies near the Syrian border. Police in the city last week detained four suspected members of the Islamic State group and seized explosives and weapons intended for a "sensational" attack, Turkish news agency Dogan reported. A statement by Israel's Shin Bet security service said it had worked extensively with the Nahariya club's management, sporting officials and Turkish security but had failed to find a solution which would allow the game to go ahead. "In view of the exceptional threat level posed in the region where the game was to take place, it was decided to forbid the delegation from departing," the Hebrew-language statement said.
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