ANKARA: Turkish police authorities on Tuesday detained as many as 150 suspected supporters of US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, including soldiers on active duty, over their links to the failed 2016 coup. The suspects include 123 active duty soldiers from the land, air, naval and gendarmerie forces.

Besides, Police and gendarmerie were searching for 34 other suspects in 53 towns and cities, dpa news agency quoted Turkey's Anadolu media as saying in a report. Thirty-eight others are former cadets who were purged following a failed coup by a faction in the military on July 15, 2016.

More than four years later, Ankara continues to round up suspected Gulen loyalists who are accused of infiltrating the state apparatus for decades with the aim of eventually orchestrating the coup. Turkey sees Gulen's movement as a terrorist group, and has jailed thousands over alleged links to the cleric.

Tens of thousands were separately purged from public service. Gulen had denied any role in the failed coup.

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