2 more coup soldiers remanded over Erdogan hotel attack

By Durmus Genc

MUGLA, Turkey (AA) - A Turkish court remanded into custody two more soldiers on Thursday as part of an investigation into the hotel attack, which targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the July 15 failed coup.

The soldiers - identified as Ilyas Yasar and Gokhan Guclu - were detained along with five others on Wednesday over their alleged involvement in the attack at the hotel in Marmaris district of Mugla where Erdogan was on a week-long holiday.

The ruling came in a court located in western province of Mugla and the soldiers were put behind the bars in Izmir province.

To date, a total of 21 soldiers were remanded and an operation, in which 600 police and gendarme forces are involved, is underway to capture the 11 other soldiers who are at large.

Erdogan had departed for Istanbul after being alerted to the coup attempt and narrowly escaped an armed attack on the evening of the failed coup that martyred at least 246 people and injured more than 2,100 others.

Turkey's government has said the deadly coup attempt was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and his Fetullah Terrorist Organisation, or FETO.

Gulen is also accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.

*Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali contributed to this report from Istanbul.