Turkey Says It Has Foiled a Planned New Year's Eve Attack by the Islamic State

Turkish police on Wednesday detained two suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group believed to have been plotting suicide attacks in the capital Ankara on New Year's Eve, a senior government official said.

The official said the two men, who entered Turkey from Syria, were thought to have been preparing an attack on Kizilay square in the center of the city, where crowds usually gather to celebrate the New Year.

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A spokesman for the police terrorism division in Ankara declined to comment.

Local media are reporting that the suspects are Turkish and identified only by the initials MC and AY. During the raid police officers also discovered suicide vests and bombs reinforced with steel balls and sticks, according to Hurriyet.

A double suicide bombing blamed on IS killed more than 100 people in Ankara in October, and Turkey has since stepped up its efforts to tackle the militants.

Turkey has a 550-mile border with Syria, some of which is controlled by IS on the Syrian side and has been used as a transit route by would-be jihadists from early on in Syria's civil war.

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