A three-year-old girl and her father were killed in the Istanbul bombing. The prime suspect is a Syrian woman. Ahlam Albashir admitted during an interrogation that she was trained by Kurdish militants of the PKK, the police said. However, a link with IS is also not excluded. In total, at least six people were killed and more than 80 injured. 46 suspects were provisionally arrested.
The explosion happened just after 2 p.m. yesterday on a pedestrian street in Taksim’s district. This is a busy entertainment, shopping and catering district around Taksim Square in the European part of the Turkish metropolis. It is also a place where many tourists come.
A female kamikaze reportedly sat on a bench for 45 minutes. The blast happened some time after she got up. According to the police, Albashir confirmed that she was acting on behalf of the Kurdish workers’ party PKK. She received orders from the city of Kobane, in northeastern Syria.
The police were able to arrest her in an apartment in a suburb of Istanbul. According to Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish interior minister, she wanted to flee to Greece.
Soylu also announced that 45 others were arrested in connection with the attack. “The action is underway to arrest other people involved,” said the minister.
Expression of support refused
Soylu, meanwhile, also refused to support the United States. Ankara has often accused Washington in the past of perpetuating the group of Kurdish “terrorists” by supplying weapons.
The PKK is on the terror list of Turkey, Europe and the US and has positions in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The movement has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish government since the mid-1980s and has been accused of bloody attacks on Turkish soil in the past. Conversely, the PKK is also often the target of Turkish military operations.
Victims face
The first victims of the attack have now been given a face. Yusuf Medan worked for the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Affairs. He was on holiday in Istanbul with his daughter (3) when disaster struck.
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“Our hearts weep over the painful news of the Istanbul attack. We have lost our colleague Yusuf and his daughter Ecrin. Our condolences go out to his family, relatives and colleagues,” said the Minister of Social Affairs Derya Yanık.
LOOK. This is the moment of the explosion in Istanbul
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