ANKARA

Nine people with suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, were arrested in the Turkish capital on Tuesday.

Warrants were issued for 14 suspects who were found to have used the terror group’s encrypted messaging app ByLock, according to a statement by prosecutors.

Anti-terror police teams nabbed nine of the suspects in Ankara, while efforts are underway to track down the remaining individuals.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 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 Dilan Pamuk in Ankara