Turkey arrests: Two held in Ankara over New Year's Eve 'attack plot'

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Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Russian consulate in Istanbul during a demonstration against Russia's policies towards Syria on November 24, 2015.Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Turkish police stand guard in Istanbul during a demonstration in November

Turkish police have arrested two suspected members of so-called Islamic State (IS) over an alleged plot to attack New Year's Eve celebrations in Ankara, officials say.

Police seized suicide vests and explosives during a raid in the Turkish capital, according to media reports.

The two people being held are Turkish nationals.

More than 100 people were killed in a double suicide bombing in Ankara in October that was blamed on IS members.

The pair arrested reportedly entered Turkey from Syria and were planning two separate attacks on crowded areas, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Belgian police have recently also made arrests linked to alleged New Year's Eve attack plots, though no direct link to IS has yet been confirmed.

Two men arrested in Brussels in raids on Sunday and Monday are reportedly members of a motorcycle club called the Kamikaze Riders.

Though the group is believed to be linked to Sharia4Belgium, a now disbanded radical Islamist group, a 2013 investigation found the club had no link to terrorism, Belgian TV news website De Redactie reports.