UPDATE 3 - 34 Daesh/ISIS suspects arrested in Turkey

UPDATES WITH NUMBER OF ARRESTS, SUSPECTS REMANDED IN CUSTODY, CHANGES HEAD

By Mustafa Hatipoglu, Halil Demir, Tanju Ozkaya, Cankut Tasdan and Ibrahim Toprak

ANKARA/ISTANBUL/BATMAN/MARDIN, Turkey (AA) - A total of 34 people with suspected links to the Daesh/ISIS terror group were arrested in Turkey on Thursday.

Fifteen foreign nationals, including members of Daesh/ISIS terror group who were allegedly plotting a terror attack on New Year's Eve were arrested in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul, according to security sources.

Anti-terror police teams in Istanbul launched simultaneous operations at 34 places in 14 districts to nab 35 suspects, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Separately, prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued arrest warrants for 15 people accused of being members of the terrorist Daesh/ISIS group, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The police arrested 14 suspects, including 10 in the capital Ankara, three in the northwestern Bursa province and one in the central province of Yozgat, it said, adding that the search for the remaining suspects was underway.

Two unlicensed shotguns and cartridges were seized during the raids, it noted.

Also, five suspected Daesh/ISIS terrorists were arrested in the eastern Mardin and the Aegean Aydin provinces, the sources said.

Police carried out simultaneous operations to arrest the suspects, local police in Mardin said in a statement.

Digital materials were also seized in the operation, it added.

Separately, some 10 Daesh/ISIS suspects were arrested in simultaneous operations in two other provinces.

Five of them have been remanded in custody in the southeastern Batman province, the provincial security directorate said in a statement.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist group.

The country has since been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists multiple times, with 315 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.