Turkey prevents 85 attacks since January

Turkey's government spokesman said on Monday security forces had prevented 85 "major incidents" in the country since January, including live bombs.

Speaking a day after the sixth suicide bombing to hit a Turkish city this year, Numan Kurtulmus told reporters at a briefing in Ankara that Turkey is making "great efforts in the struggle against terror."

"We have prevented 85 major incidents since January. Forty-nine of those included live bombs," Kurtulmus said.

A number of bombings have struck cities all over Turkey in the past year, including two suicide attacks carried out by the DAESH terrorist group in Istanbul which killed German, Iranian and Israeli tourists.

Another DAESH attack in the capital Ankara last year also targeted a rally primarily attended by supporters of the HDP and other pro-Kurdish organisations, leaving over 100 dead.

Two more recent suicide bombings in the capital Ankara were claimed by TAK, an offshoot of the PKK terrorist group.

Turkey has also faced attacks from far leftist groups such as the DHKP-C, particularly targeting police and security forces, as well as a prosecutor who was assassinated in his office last year.

In the latest attack in the southeastern city of Gaziantep on Sunday, two police officers were killed and another 22 people were wounded.

It came just a week after a suicide bomber blew herself up near the main mosque in the northwestern city of Bursa, injuring eight people.

TAK also claimed responsibility for the bombing in Bursa.