Turk police seize 10 al Qaeda suspects

ISTANBUL: Turkish police detained 10 suspected al Qaeda members in Istanbul on Wednesday, private television CNN Turk reported.   

Police in Istanbul could not confirm the report, which was also carried by Dogan News Agency. No further details were immediately available.   

Police in secular, mainly Muslim Turkey have carried out several operations against suspected Islamic militants since Istanbul was hit in November 2003 by a series of bombings claimed by a cell of al Qaeda.   

More than 60 were killed in those attacks, which targeted two synagogues, a branch of HSBC bank and the British Consulate.   

Tensions have been running especially high in Turkey since a suicide bomber killed six people and injured scores more last week in an attack on a shopping mall in the capital Ankara.   

Turkish authorities blamed the Ankara attack on Kurdish militants. Police have detained several suspected members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in recent days.