Turkish police detain 35 IS suspects in Istanbul raids

According to Anadolu, the suspects were taken into custody following simultaneous raids on 41 homes in two low-income Istanbul neighbourhoods.

There was no information on the suspects or their nationalities.

Turkey has taken steps to crack down on IS since 2014 when the hardline group launched a series of suicide bombings in the country. 

Some 750 people with alleged IS links were detained in a major police sweep in 29 Turkish provinces earlier this month.

IS had previously been blamed for several strikes including triple suicide bombings at Istanbul airport in June.

The group claimed responsibility for a New Year's mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people.

After the suspected gunman in the nightclub attack was arrested on 16 January, IS released a video threatening to a carry out more attacks in Turkey.

Turkish forces have also been fighting IS in Syria since August, and are currently struggling to capture the town of al-Bab.

Turkey's Dogan news agency says 66 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the campaign since it started, mostly in IS attacks. In December, IS released a video purporting to show a pair of Turkish soldiers captured in Syria being burned alive.

But Turkey said on Wednesday that less than 100 IS extremists were still holed up in al-Bab.

Speaking to NTV television, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said half of the town of al-Bab was in the hands of Turkish troops and allied pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, after the government repeatedly said it was "largely under control".

Since launching its unprecedented incursion into Syria in August, Turkey has been focusing on al-Bab as the last bastion of IS extremists in Aleppo province.