Erdogan assassination plot foiled ahead of Bosnia visit

Details of an assassination plot against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly planned to be carried out during the leader's visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina came to light on Saturday, according to Turkey's Anadolu state news agency.

According to the agency, Turkish intelligence confirmed reports that a Turkish group planned to assassinate the Prime Minister during his visit to the Balkans on Sunday. Security services reportedly received intelligence from Turkish citizens living in the Macedonian capital of Skopje.

Western intelligence services had also passed on information related to the planned assassination to Turkey. Turkish authorities are investigating the matter, but gave no further details on the alleged plot.

Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said on Saturday that Erdogan's trip to Bosnia would continue as planned, adding that the President "is not afraid and does not run away from causes he believes in".

Erdogan is set to hold a rally in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on Sunday, almost one month before Turkey heads to the polls to vote in the general election on June 24.

If re-elected, new laws will be enacted that would expand Erdogan's presidential powers, that he claims is in the interest of "streamlining" the political system, however detractors claim is a slide towards authoritarianism.

The Turkish strongman has several groups fiercely opposed to his leadership, most notably the country's Kurdish minority, whose PKK Kurdistan Workers' Party have been leading a separatist insurgency since 1984.