Turkish court releases retired general

ANKARA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A Turkish court investigating coup plot allegations released a retired general and the former chairman of an education board on Sunday, state-run Anatolian news service said.

The two were detained last week along with some 40 people in a case that has further tested relations between the Islamist-rooted government and the powerful military.

A former police chief who was among those detained was formally arrested, Anatolian said.

Eighty-six people, including retired army officers, politicians and lawyers, are on trial in the "Ergenekon" coup plot investigation, which has increased political tensions in the European Union candidate country.

The secularist establishment, which includes the military, judges and the state bureaucracy, says the governing AK Party is carrying out the arrests as revenge for a 2008 court case that sought to ban the party for anti-secular activities.

The AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, denies this.

Turkey's powerful military, which has unseated governments four times in the past 50 years, is said to be deeply worried about the case.

(Reporting by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Sophie Hares)