Counterterrorism police in Istanbul have arrested 12 suspects in simultaneous raids yesterday against the Daesh terrorist group.

The suspects, arrested in seven districts of the city, were preparing to carry out attacks, security sources told Turkish media.

Daesh, which is blamed for a string of terror attacks in Turkey in the past three years, saw a decline in membership with militants fleeing Syria and Iraq where it once controlled large swathes of land. Turkey supported Syrian rebels in a 2016 operation in war-torn Syria to regain control of Daesh-controlled towns.

Some 2,000 people were arrested and 7,000 others were deported in operations against Daesh in Turkey while around 70,000 people were denied entry to Turkey over their suspected links to the terrorist group

.