Turkish police have detained 14 people in raids targeting the al Qaeda militant group across western Turkey after the discovery of explosives and weapons, the Interior Ministry said.
Police ceased 700 kg (1,500 lb) of ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in improvised explosives, in a raid on a house in the province of Ankara, Milliyet newspaper said on Wednesday.
The detainees, linked to a group active in Afghanistan, were detained on Tuesday on suspicion of planning attacks on U.S. installations in Turkey to avenge the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in Pakistan on May 2, the paper said.
Police operations were also conducted in the western Turkish provinces of Bursa and Yalova after the raid in Ankara, the Interior Ministry said late on Tuesday.
Turkish police regularly arrest suspected Islamist militants and describe them as having links to al Qaeda, though further details seldom emerge.
Al Qaeda militants were behind bomb attacks in 2003 that killed some 60 people and wounded hundreds in Istanbul.
