Istanbul, June 27 (IANS): Turkish Police detained ten suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) during an operation in Istanbul on Thursday, the media reported.

The Istanbul Police Department's Counter-Terrorism Unit initiated the operation after identifying the suspects involved in activities with IS members in Syria and northern Iraq, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the report, the police identified the suspects as "terrorist fighters with foreign nationalities, deemed to pose a threat to the country".

The state-run Anadolu news agency added that simultaneous operations were conducted at 17 different addresses across seven districts, and the detained suspects were then transported to the police station for further legal procedures.

The Turkish government designated IS as a terrorist organisation in 2013, blaming it for a spate of deadly attacks in the country since 2015, including a January attack on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul that killed one person.