Turkey says Istanbul bomb suspect is Syrian national with ties to Kurdish groups

The woman detained under suspicion of carrying out the deadly bomb blast in Istanbul on Sunday is a Syrian national who was trained by Kurdish militants, according to Turkish authorities.

Turkish police said in a statement that the suspect entered the country through the city of Afrin in northern Syria without documentation to carry out the attack in the heart of Turkey’s largest city, which killed at least six people and injured more than 80 others.

Officers scanned 1,200 security cameras to determine the route of the suspected attacker, who is alleged to have planted the bomb at the scene before leaving in a taxi, according to the statement. Some 46 people were detained, the police added.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier the government believed Kurdish separatists from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) were most likely responsible for the assault.

“It is PKK/PYD terrorist organization according to our preliminary findings,” Soylu said in a press conference at the scene of the attack on Istiklal Avenue. He did not elaborate or provide details of how investigators had reached this conclusion.
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The police added: “In her interrogation, the person stated that she was trained as a special intelligence officer by the PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist organization and that she entered our country illegally through Afrin for this attack.”

Turkey Blast

Security camera footage shows a woman sitting on a bench for more than 40 minutes and then getting up one or two minutes before the explosion, leaving a bag or plastic bag behind, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told the A Haber news channel on Sunday.

The explosive TNT was detected on citizens who lost their lives, on the vehicle that the suspect used and at the crime scene, according to chemical analysis conducted by police.

The blast happened on Istiklal Street in Beyoglu Square, Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said.

“We wish God’s mercy on those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the injured,” Yerlikaya tweeted.

Turkey Blast

The six people killed include Yusuf Meydan, a member of Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services, and his daughter Ecrin, according to Derya Yanık, the minister of the agency.

Soylu told reporters Monday that 50 of the 81 people injured have been discharged from the hospital, with 31 people still being treated.

Turkey’s conflict with Kurdish separatist groups has spanned four decades and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The PKK, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.