Ankara, Feb 18 (IANS): Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 467 suspects over their alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016.

Police have launched widespread simultaneous operations in 67 provinces across the country to catch the suspects.

The suspects were accused of their roles in organised cheating by the network which was headed by the US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, Efe news quoted the state-run TRT broadcaster as saying.

The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed.

"There was almost no one left who was not involved in the group," Ismail Hakki Pekin, a retired general who headed the Turkish General Staff's intelligence unit, told Xinhua.

"It is said there are still 18,000 members of the group among the Turkish armed forces," Pekin continued, noting 15,000 to 16,000 military personnel were already dismissed or arrested.

In Pekin's view, it will take some time to fully eradicate the elements of the group, now seen as a terror organization by Ankara, from the different segments of the state.

"The government has been conducting a rather massive purge, and it will continue for a while," he said.