Turkey coup arrests hit 6,000 as Erdogan roots out 'virus'

Turkey has arrested 6,000 people after a failed coup, with President Erdogan vowing to purge state bodies of the "virus" that caused the revolt.

Mr Erdogan's top military aide Col Ali Yazici is among those now in custody.
The number of those killed in the weekend violence had risen to 290, the foreign ministry said. More than 100 of them had been involved in the coup.
Security forces are reported to have met resistance from some coup-plotters who were being arrested.
Warning shots were fired at Istanbul's second largest airport, and also at a military base in central Konya province, unnamed officials said.
"We will continue to cleanse the virus from all state institutions, because this virus has spread. Unfortunately like a cancer, this virus has enveloped the state," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told mourners at at a funeral in Istanbul for victims of the coup.
The president repeated an accusation that US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the plot. Mr Gulen strongly denies any involvement.

SOURCE:BBC News