Five of the leading commanders at the centre of Turkey’s failed military coup have reportedly ‘committed suicide’ as the investigation into the takeover continues.

Istanbul’s former Security Branch Manager Mithat Aynacı, who was arrested after being pulled from a tank dressed in military camouflage, has reportedly killed himself while in prison.

8 Mithat Aynacı being taunted by an angry mob after being pulled from his tank

FETÖ'cü Emniyet Müdürü Mithat Aynacı askeri darbe girişimi gecesi Vatan Caddesi'nde kamuflajla tank içinde yakalandıhttps://t.co/7xUvPLroEf — Yeni Şafak (@yenisafak) July 19, 2016

On July 22, Lieutenant Colonel Levent Önder shot himself with a handgun after allegedly ‘blaming himself for not preventing the coup’.

Following his tragic death a government statement was released saying Onder had “a nervous breakdown after the July 15 coup attempt as he could not prevent the plans of the coup terrorists.”

Four days after the failed coup, District Governor Necmi Akman reportedly shot himself in the head with a handgun at his home in the Aegean province of Manisa.

Akman, who had been suspended and was being investigated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government, allegedly used his bodyguard’s weapon to take his own life.

8 Disturbing images show soldiers bound and on the floor Credit: Twitter

Last week, Colonel İsmail Çakmak, who was one of the leading figures beind the coup, was found hanged by authorities in his cell in Istanbul’s Silivri Prison.

Reports in Turkey allege that former army officer Astsubay Ferhat Daş, who was detained after refusing to open fire on coup culprits at Instabul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport, has also taken his own life.

The spate of high profile suicides follows an Amnesty International report that 10,000 detained Turkish troops have been raped, starved and left without water for days.

The group claim that the detainees, who were imprisoned after the failed military coup, are being held in stables and sports halls.

8 Detained Turkish soldiers who allegedly took part in a military coup arrive with their hands bound behind their backs at the Istanbul Justice Palace Credit: Getty Images

In a statement the Human Rights campaigners say they have ‘credible evidence’ that the detainees are being beaten and tortured, in official and unofficial detention centres across the country.

Amnesty International’s Europe director, John Dalhuisen: “Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week.

“The grim details that we have documented are just a snapshot of the abuses that might be happening in places of detention.”

The group has called for immediate access to prisoners after the coup a week ago which sparked a brutal crackdown and a three-month state of emergency.

More than 200 died in the uprising which aimed to topple President Erdogan - and 1,500 were injured.

Dalhuisen said: "It is absolutely imperative that the Turkish authorities halt these abhorrent practices and allow international monitors to visit all these detainees in the places they are being held.”

“Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week.

8 Credit: Getty Images

Family members of detained Turkish soldiers wait in front of the Istanbul Justice Palace

Amnesty has also spoken to lawyers, doctors and a person on duty in a detention facility about the conditions in which detainees were being held.

The group heard troubling reports of torture in ‘unofficial locations’, particularly at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall, Ankara Başkent sports hall and the riding club stables there.

According to the accounts, police are forcing detainees to remain in stress positions; they are handcuffed with cable ties and forced to kneel for hours.

In many cases the ties are fastened too tight and left wounds on the arms of detainees.

8 Turkish President Erdogan on July 20 chaired a crunch security meeting for the first time since the failed coup. Credit: Getty Images

There are also reports of rape and sexual assault.

Two lawyers in Ankara working on behalf of detainees told Amnesty International that detainees said they witnessed senior military officers in detention being raped with a truncheon by police officers.

A person on duty at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall saw a detainee with severe wounds consistent with having been beaten, including a large swelling on his head.

The detainee could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost consciousness.

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8 Turkish police accompany detainees as they arrive at Istanbul court Credit: EPA

While in some cases detainees were afforded limited medical assistance, police refused to allow this detainee essential medical treatment despite his severe injuries.

The interviewee heard one police doctor on duty say: “Let him die.

“We will say he came to us dead.”

The same interviewee said 650-800 soldiers were being held in the Ankara police headquarters sports hall - 300 of them with signs of having been beaten.

Around 40 were so badly injured they could not walk.

8 Supporters of Turkish President Erdogan lit flares and waved Turkish flags on July 19 Credit: Getty Images

One lawyer working at the Caglayan Courthouse in Istanbul said that some of the detainees she saw there were in extreme emotional distress, with one detainee attempting to throw himself out of a sixth story window and another repeatedly slamming his head against the wall.

“Despite chilling images and videos of torture that have been widely broadcast across the country, the government has remained conspicuously silent on the abuse.

“Failing to condemn ill-treatment or torture in these circumstances is tantamount to condoning it,” said John Dalhuisen.

8 Vechicles were destroyed during a fighter pilot attack during the coup Credit: TURKISH PRESIDENTAL PRESS OFFICE

He added, “Detaining people in connection with a criminal charge without demonstrating that you have evidence of criminal wrongdoing is by definition arbitrary and unlawful”

Yesterday 1,200 soldiers were released from detention.

"Those released were privates”, Ankara’s chief prosecutor Harun Kodalak said, adding that the authorities were seeking to swiftly sort out those who had fired upon civilians from those who did not.

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