Security forces on Sunday detained 17 suspects linked to the Daesh terrorist organization in raids in Istanbul and eastern Turkey. The operations are part of Turkey's efforts to stamp out the group that seeks to recruit foreigners for their activities in Iraq and Syria.

In pre-dawn raids on Sunday after months of surveillance, counterterror police units stormed several buildings in the districts of Tuzla, Pendik, Sultanbeyli on Istanbul's Asian side and the Beylikdüzü and Kağıthane districts on the city's European side. A total of 10 people were detained in the operations, and authorities said "digital and written materials" belonging to Daesh were confiscated. Media outlets reported that the detainees included those who fought in Syria and Iraq for Daesh as well as several suspects acting as liaisons for foreign and Turkish nationals seeking to join the group.

In another police operation in the eastern city of Elazığ, seven suspected members of Daesh were detained.

Also on Sunday, 16 Egyptians and one Russian national were captured in the southern city of Adana, along with seven Turks accused of recruiting fighters for Daesh. The suspects, including women and children, were captured in pre-dawn raids. Police sources said one of the Turkish suspects was already wanted for charges of membership in a terrorist organization.

Turkey, one of primary targets for the terrorist organization based in its two southern neighbors Syria and Iraq, faces a double threat of attacks from Daesh and a flow of foreign fighters from European countries seeking to travel to Syria to join the group. Security sources quoted by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) said more than 2,600 Daesh members have been detained since 2013, the year the group emerged as one of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world. Most suspects were released pending trial, as they did not actively join the group, while 632 people remain in custody on terror charges.

Daesh is blamed for the two biggest terror attacks in Turkey in the recent memory. In July 2015, a suicide bomber linked to the group killed 32 people at a rally in Suruç, while twin suicide bombings rocked another rally in the capital, Ankara, which claimed the lives of 102 people.