ISTANBUL, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors issued detention warrants for 89 military personnel on Monday over alleged links to a group believed to be behind a failed coup bid in 2016, local media reported.
Operations were launched in Istanbul to catch the suspects, some of whom are still serving in the Turkish armed forces, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
So far 48 soldiers have been detained, including a colonel who was expelled from the army and was taken into custody at the last minute when he was about to leave the country from Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, Anadolu said.
Turkey accuses U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen and his network of masterminding the failed coup in July 2016, and has long sought his extradition to Turkey. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed.
