Turkey detains more than 2,000 people over militant, coup links - Action News
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Turkey detains more than 2,000 people over militant, coup links

Turkish authorities detained more than 2,000 people over the last week for suspected links to militant groups or last year's failed coup attempt, the interior ministry said on Monday.

13 of those detained were killed, government says, without giving any further details

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here campaigning for the country's April 19 referendum. More than 40,000 people have been arrested and more than 100,000 have been fired from government positions since the July 2016 attempted coup. (Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Press Service/Associated Press)

Turkish authorities detained more than 2,000 people over the last week for suspected links to militant groups or last year's failed coup attempt, the interior ministry said on Monday.

Turkey, which faces multiple security threats, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and ISIS, has also widened a crackdown on alleged supporters of the July coup attempt.

In a statement, the interior ministry said 2,063 people had been detained for questioning in the past week. A total of 999 of those were suspected of links to the autonomy-seeking PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency against the government and is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, Turkey and Europe.

Another 966 were detained for suspected ties to the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for orchestrating an attempted coup in July. Gulen denies any involvement and has condemned the coup.

Seventy people were detained over alleged links to ISIS, while 28 more were held for suspected ties to "leftist terrorist groups", the ministry said.

The ministry also said 24 militants had been "neutralized" in operations over the past week, and of those, 13 killed. It did not give further details.

Following the July 15 coup, Turkey has arrested more than 40,000 people and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 in the military, civil service and private sector.