Two held over Ankara New Year bombings plot

Turkish police have detained two suspected Islamic State militants who were believed to be planning suicide attacks during new year celebrations in central Ankara.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the two suspects, both Turkish nationals, were detained in a raid on a house in Ankara. The agency, quoting an official from the city's chief prosecutor's office, says police seized suicide vests armed with bombs.

The agency said the attackers were planning to detonate the suicide vests at two locations during the celebrations. The agency did not say whether the suspects were male or female.

The suspects, identified only by their initials MC and AY, are being questioned by anti-terrorism police.

Anadolu said the attackers were planning to detonate the vests near bars and a shopping centre.

In October, two suicide bombers detonated explosive vests during a peace rally in Ankara, killing more than 100 people. The prosecutor's office said those attacks were carried out by a local cell of the Islamic State group.

More than 30 people were also killed in an IS suicide attack in the town of Suruc, near Turkey's border with Syria, in July.