Istanbul police detain 74 suspected Islamic State militants

Anti-terror police carried out simultaneous raids at 15 different addresses in the capital Istanbul, Anadolu reported.

Police said 73 of the detained were foreigners, and were immediately handed over to relevant authorities for deportation, however information on their nationalities was not disclosed.

The remaining suspect was held for questioning.

Turkey has been on alert following a series of deadly attacks thought to have been perpetrated by IS militants since 2015.

The country's interior ministry said in July that there had been 14 major terrorist attacks conducted by IS in Turkey, including 10 suicide bombings, one bomb attack and three armed attacks.

A total of 304 people were killed in these attacks, including 10 police officers and one soldier.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that at least 3,000 IS militants were killed by Turkish forces in northern Syria.

Turkey has also deported at least 5,000 terror suspects and banned another 53,000 people from entering the country.