Istanbul: Turkish anti-terror police on Tuesday detained two dozen people in a nationwide operation against Al-Qaeda that targeted an Islamic charity linked to the beleaguered government.
Police carried out simultaneous operations in several cities and raided the homes of five allegedly senior al Qaeda operatives, the Hurriyet newspaper reported, giving an updated arrest toll of 23.
It said those arrested were accused of sending fighters to Syria, raising money for Syrian rebels under the guise of seeking charitable donations, and providing arms for al Qaeda.
The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said its offices in the southern city of Kilis were also searched and computers seized in what it branded a "smear campaign" linked to the corruption scandal embroiling the government.
IHH, the biggest NGO in Turkey sending aid to neighbouring Syria, has been accused of smuggling weapons to the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad`s regime.
It said one of its staff was arrested but denied any al Qaeda links.
The IHH claimed it was a victim of the feud between Erdogan and a powerful exiled Islamic preacher at the root of the worst political crisis since Erdogan took office in 2003.
"This smear campaign is backed by people inside and outside Turkey," IHH secretary general Yasar Kutluay said, in an apparent reference to the movement headed by influential cleric Fethullah Gulen who lives in the US but wields considerable clout in the judiciary and police in Turkey.
"It is not only about IHH. They want to brand Turkey as a country which supports terrorism and want it to be tried before international courts," he said.
The head of the anti-terrorism unit leading the Kilis raid was subsequently removed from his post, local media reported.
Erdogan`s government has since December sacked hundreds of police and prosecutors involved in the graft probe, accusing them of being part of a "state within a state" trying to topple his administration.
Today`s raids come almost two weeks after Turkish media reported that security forces had stopped a truck loaded with weapons on the Syrian border and arrested three people including a Syrian.
The drivers claimed they were carrying aid on behalf of IHH but the organisation denied the arms allegations as "slanderous".
