Turkish authorities have arrested an alleged member of the Islamic State group suspected of planning a suicide attack on the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.
Media outlets reported the suspected militant was a man of Syrian origin who was detained at a bus station in the southern city of Kahramanmaras, close to the border with Syria, and remanded in custody by a local court.
Turkish reports say he planned to travel to the city of Gazianteip to join an IS bomb-making cell, before going to Istanbul to carry out the attack.
Media identified the suspect as Mohammed Rahil al-Hardani.
Last week, the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul closed for one day, citing information about a possible terrorist attack.
Turkey is on alert for terrorist attacks following suicide bombings earlier this year in the capital, Ankara, and a town on the Syrian border. More than 130 people died in those attacks, which were blamed on a Turkish IS cell.
