More Turkish police held as PM Erdogan says purge just beginning

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (C), flanked by Chief of Staff General Necdet Ozel (L) and Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz (R), leaves after a wreath-laying ceremony with members of the High Military Council at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ahead of a High Military Council meeting in Ankara August 4, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Dozens of Turkish police officers were detained on Tuesday in a widening probe of wiretapping allegedly targeting Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and he said operations against his foes within the state apparatus were just beginning.

Police took 33 of their colleagues into custody on Tuesday in Istanbul, Ankara and across southeast Turkey, NTV said, days ahead of the country's first presidential election which opinion polls forecast Erdogan will win.