More than 20 foreign nationals were arrested in the Turkish capital Ankara over their suspected links to the Daesh terrorist group, a security source said on Friday.

Police teams in the capital launched an operation and arrested 22 Iraqi nationals for their alleged links to conflict zones, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Efforts are ongoing to arrest more suspects.

In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh a terrorist group.

The country has since been attacked by the terrorist group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.