More than 8000 police and officials suspended after Turkey attempted coup

Police taken off jobs as government continues to pursue suspected coup plotters who aimed to overthrow Erdogan.

Turkey has suspended nearly 8,000 police across the country, widening a major purge on suspected supporters of a failed army coup aimed at overthrowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The interior ministry said 8,777 people had been removed from their posts, including 7,899 members of the police and security forces, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.

Erdogan has pledged that the cleansing of state institutions will continue, saying a cancer had spread like a virus and needed to be eradicated.

Speaking to supporters on Sunday after attending funerals of civilians killed in the violence, Erdogan also said his government would consider reinstating the death penalty, which Turkey abolished in 2004 as part of reforms aimed at joining the European Union.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Monday that more than 7,500 suspects had been detained in connection with the coup attempt.

"So far 7,543 suspects have been detained. The numbers may change. It includes 100 police, 6,038 soldiers, 755 judges and prosecutors and 650 civilians," Yildirim said, adding that 316 of the detainees had been remanded in custody".

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