Turkish Deputy PM: government only learned of coup attempt when well underway

ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish government had no information about Friday's failed coup attempt until it was well underway, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Tuesday, appearing to contradict a previous statement from the military leadership. Earlier, the army General Staff said it had first received intelligence that a coup was underway at 4 pm local time (1300 GMT) on July 15 and that it had alerted the relevant authorities. Soldiers blocked two bridges in Istanbul shortly before 10.30 pm local time (1930 GMT) and gunfire was heard in the capital Ankara shortly afterwards. Kurtulmus also told reporters that 9,322 people were currently under legal proceedings in relation to the attempted coup. He dismissed reports that any naval ships had gone missing since the abortive coup on Friday night. (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Gareth Jones)