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| Turkey nets 'al-Qaeda' suspects | Turkey nets 'al-Qaeda' suspects |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Turkish police have arrested 120 al-Qaeda suspects in a major nationwide anti-terror operation, reports say. | Turkish police have arrested 120 al-Qaeda suspects in a major nationwide anti-terror operation, reports say. |
| The arrests were made in co-ordinated pre-dawn raids in 16 provinces, said the state-run Anatolia news agency. | The arrests were made in co-ordinated pre-dawn raids in 16 provinces, said the state-run Anatolia news agency. |
| Those detained include an alleged militant recruiter who worked at a university in the eastern city of Van, Anatolia quoted police as saying. | Those detained include an alleged militant recruiter who worked at a university in the eastern city of Van, Anatolia quoted police as saying. |
| It added the raids came after police seized documents disclosing details of extremist militant activity in Turkey. | It added the raids came after police seized documents disclosing details of extremist militant activity in Turkey. |
| Friday morning's raids netted weapons, fake identity cards and camouflage clothing, unnamed police officials said. | |
| Suspected leaders of al-Qaeda cells in Turkey - including the local group's leader, Serdar Elbasi - were reportedly among those detained. | |
| Afghanistan link | |
| The raids, which took place in cities including Ankara and Istanbul, came after 33 suspected al-Qaeda members were arrested in Ankara and Adana earlier this week. | |
| ANALYSIS By Jonathan HeadBBC News, Istanbul Little is known about al-Qaeda's structure in Turkey, but it is believed to be weak. In 2009 the police reportedly launched three raids against the movement's cells. There were similar raids in 2008. | |
| Some Turkish al-Qaeda members have been killed or captured in neighbouring Iraq, and some are known to have been trained in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda militants in Turkey are believed to come from Arab countries, the Caucasus and central Asia. | |
| Terrorist attacks are not uncommon in Turkey, but there are a number of potential culprits. The PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) is blamed for some. | |
| Extreme leftist groups used to carry out armed attacks, but have been inactive recently. | |
| Reports suggest those detained may have been involved in plots to kill Turkish soldiers serving in Afghanistan or police in Turkey. | |
| Turkish police occasionally carry out such raids against other Islamist groups and suspected Kurdish militants. | Turkish police occasionally carry out such raids against other Islamist groups and suspected Kurdish militants. |
| Al-Qaeda has been held responsible for sporadic attacks in Turkey, such as multiple suicide bombings against the British Consulate, a branch of HSBC and two synagogues in Istanbul in 2003. | |
| Sixty-three people died, including British Consul-General Roger Short. Seven people, including one Syrian citizen, were jailed in 2007 over the attacks. | |
| Although Turkey is governed by a notionally Islamist party, the AKP, it takes a tough stand against all forms of terrorism. | |
| There are pockets of sympathy for jihadist Islam in parts of Turkey - numbering around 5,000 Salafi Muslims in total - but these pockets are small. | |
| Turkey is a member of Nato and a long-standing US ally, despite more recent diplomatic overtures to Iran and Syria. | |
| The country's security forces co-operate closely with the US, and are efficient in monitoring the activities of Islamic militants. |