Nice Try

161 Dead as Turkish Rebels Surrender

Coup attempt fails after authorities launch air strikes on coup plotters.

Dozens of soldiers who attempted to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late Friday surrendered on a bridge near Istanbul on Saturday, bringing an end to a mind-blowing military coup attempt. In dramatic scenes broadcast on Turkish television, about 50 soldiers stood with their hands in the air after abandoning their tanks. In Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, another group of coup plotters surrendered to police after being surrounded. The apparent end to the coup comes after Turkish authorities launched air strikes against tanks controlled by the coup plotters outside the presidential palace in Ankara. Authorities also shot down a military helicopter used by coup plotters to fire on a state satellite operator near Anakara. At least 161 people were killed in the coup attempt, and another 1,440 wounded, according to Al Arabiya. More than 1,500 members of the military were arrested, Turkish authorities said. Twenty-nine colonels and five generals were also removed from their posts, as Erdoğan warns that those who organized the failed coup “will pay” for what they’ve done. All government officials were reportedly in charge of their offices as of Saturday morning.