World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkish police on Friday detained five suspected ISIL militants in Istanbul accused of planning a "sensational" attack targeting the weekend referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.

Police detained the five, including one citizen of Tajikistan, in simultaneous raids on three districts, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

It said they were acting on intelligence of a planned "sensational" attack on Sunday's tightly contested referendum. It did not give further details.

In the latest issue of its magazine Al-Naba, ISIL had called for attacks against polling stations in Turkey.

Turkey has been hit by a series of attacks in the last 18 months blamed on ISIL and Kurdish militants.

The last major attack claimed by ISIL was on January 1 when an armed man stormed an Istanbul nightclub and shot 39 people dead during New Year celebrations.