Forty-eight military pilots detained in Ankara

Turkish police detained 48 air force pilots in Ankara in an anti-terror investigation into the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Four lieutenants, three colonels and four majors are among the detainees. The pilots are suspected of links to the group led by Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim preacher whom Turkey accuses of ordering the July 15 putsch attempt.

Turkish authorities issued arrest warrants for 63 suspects, most of them military pilots, allegedly linked to a 2016 failed coup attempt, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said.

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said earlier that 15,153 people were dismissed since July 2016 across Turkey.