Turkish police smash Kurdish cell planning suicide attacks

Seven members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were arrested in the investigation into plans for a suicide attack in the Bolu province east of Istanbul.

Two others, suspected of being part of the outlawed PKK group, were detained three days prior in an unusual raid in the province, miles from the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

Police found two pistols, four homemade explosive devices, two Kalashnikovs, C4 plastic explosives and two suicide vests.

Turkey has been rocked with multiple suicide bombings in recent months, causing international states to issue travel warnings advising tourists against travelling to the other-wise well known tourist hotspot.

The US embassy warned of "credible threats to tourist areas, in particular to public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya."

This year, 79 people have been killed in Istanbul and Ankara in attacks claimed by both the Islamic State group and the PKK.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons [TAK] - a radical branch of the PKK - claimed the two bombings in in the capital while those in Istanbul were blamed on the Islamic State group.

Turkish authorities have launched an offensive against the outlawed PKK group since a two-year ceasefire collapsed last year. The group has battled the Turkish state for over a decade.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the west for supporting Syrian Kurdish militia group in its fight against IS.

According to Turkish authorities, the PYD is allegedly linked to the PKK - which the US and EU consider a terrorist group.

"They are appendages of the same body ... If you do not see that the PYD is a terror organisation that means that you do not see the Ankara attack as a terror attack," Erdogan said following the attack.