ANKARA – Turkish police on Monday detained four Iraqis suspected ofplanning an attack on the US embassy in Ankara, media reported.

The group were held during anti-terror raids in the Black Sea province ofSamsun, Hurriyet daily said, after the US mission in the capital announcedit would close Monday because of a “security threat”.

The mission s website urged Americans to “avoid large crowds” and “keep alow profile”.

Two of the suspects were detained on a bus on the Samsun-Ankara highwaywhile the other two were taken into custody in the Samsun district ofIlkadim, the newspaper reported.

They were suspected to be part of an anti-Islamic State (IS) group.

As a result of the security alert, 12 foreigners were detained earlierMonday over alleged links to IS after the Ankara prosecutor issued 20arrest warrants, state news agency Anadolu said.

They were trying to recruit for IS, it reported, adding that the suspectswere in contact with those in “conflict zones”.

The Ankara governor s office said in a statement that it had taken “extrasecurity measures” after US sources provided Turkish intelligence withinformation on the possibility of terror attacks against the embassy andwhere Americans lived.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters on Monday that4,045 “IS terrorists” had been arrested amomg which 1,858 were “foreignterrorist fighters” since 2011.

Turkish police frequently conduct raids against IS across the countryincluding one last month when 29 foreigners were detained in Istanbul overalleged links to the group.

There were a series of terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 as well as one in2017 blamed on IS and outlawed Kurdish militants.

The last attack IS claimed was in January 2017 when a gunman killed 39people at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year s celebrations. APP/AFP