ANKARA - The Turkish police have detained 20 people with suspected links to the extremist Al-Qaeda network who were allegedly plotting an attack, Turkish newspapers reported Sunday.
The suspects, who belonged to a "sleeper cell" for several years, were rounded up following intelligence that they had been to prepare for an unspecified attack, an unnamed official told the popular Milliyet daily.
The suspects are being questioned in the central city of Aksaray, where most of them were detained.
Officials in Aksaray were not available for comment Sunday.
The city governor's office had said Thursday that 18 people linked to "a terrorist organisation" were apprehended, without naming the group.
The suspects were rounded up in Aksaray, the southern city of Adana, the capital Ankara and Istanbul, it said, adding that the police also seized weapons, bullets, fake ID cards and organisational documents in their homes.
Pictures seized by the police indicate that the suspects went to mountains near Aksaray for military training, the mass-circulation Sabah daily reported Sunday.
One of them was reportedly a teacher of English at a highschool in Aksaray.
A judge was expected to question the suspects before deciding whether to release or formally charge them.
A Turkish cell of Al-Qaeda was held responsible for two sets of twin suicide bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 -- at two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank -- which claimed 63 lives, left hundreds injured and caused massive destruction.
In February, seven men were jailed for life over the blasts, among them a Syrian national who masterminded and provided the financing for the attacks.
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12/30/2007 10:15 GMT