IZMIR, Turkey

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 46 suspects nationwide over their alleged links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, security sources said on Friday.

Prosecutors in the Aegean Izmir province issued the warrants for the suspects -- 16 of them noncommissioned military officers -- on charges of using terror group’s encrypted smartphone messaging app ByLock and for being customers of Bank Asya, a FETO-linked bank, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Police raids were launched simultaneously in 11 provinces to apprehend the suspects, the sources added.

In a separate operation in the southeastern Adana province, 15 suspects were detained over their alleged links to FETO, security sources said.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on 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 Erdogan Cagatay Zontur