TURKISH authorities arrested 125 people today on suspicion of links to terrorist group Islamic State (Isis).

Hundreds have been swept up in raids over the last week as authorities sought to stave off Christmas attacks.

Members of one suspected cell exchanged fire with police on Monday, leaving six suspects and three officers dead.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that today’s raids had been co-ordinated by police and gendarmerie forces and were carried out in cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Yalova.

Nearly 25 Isis operatives have been killed or captured in Syria in the last fortnight, the US military said on Tuesday.

The actions followed an ambush on December 14 in which two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter were killed.