ISTANBUL, April 1: Turkish anti-terror police on Tuesday detained 45 people on suspicion of belonging to the Al Qaeda extremist network and planning attacks, Anatolia news agency reported.

The suspects, rounded up in simultaneous operations in eight districts of Istanbul, were being questioned by police, the report said. A court was to decide later whether they should be charged and jailed pending trial or released.

In January, police raided 18 locations in southeast of Turkey on intelligence that a local Al Qaeda cell was planning car bomb attacks. Four alleged militants and a policeman were then killed in a gunfight, and 17 suspects arrested. A Turkish cell of the network was blamed for truck bombs that targeted two synagogues in Istanbul, British consulate and a British bank.—AFP