UPDATE - Turkey arrests 77 FETO-linked terror suspects

UPDATES NUMBER OF ARRESTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Ismet Karakas and Halil Demir

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish security forces arrested 77 suspects nationwide for their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup, security sources said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors in the capital Ankara issued warrants for 13 suspects, including nine active-duty personnel, one senior member, and three dismissed sergeants.

The suspects are accused of communicating by payphone with alleged links to the terror group's "covert services" in the Turkish Land Forces Command.

Anti-terror police units have so far arrested 10 suspects.

Also in Ankara, arrest warrants were issued for 17 additional suspects for having alleged links to senior FETO members and using the terror group’s encrypted smartphone messaging app ByLock, said a security source.

Police teams have arrested 15 of the suspects, and continue to hunt for the remaining suspects.

Separately, a total of 52 suspects were arrested in Istanbul-based simultaneous operations across Turkey's 33 provinces, said a security source.

Prosecutors in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for 118 personnel of the Turkish Land Forces Command, including 10 active-duty soldiers, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

They were accused of communicating by payphone with other FETO members, it said. Hunt for 53 fugitive suspects is underway, while 13 of them were reported being abroad, it added.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar