(AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES) Turkish police arrest suspect in Istanbul bombing ...[2022-11-14]

 

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Turkish police arrest suspect in Istanbul bombing

 

 

Interior minister says police have arrested ‘the person who left the bomb’ that exploded on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue.

 

 

Police officers stand at the entrance to Istanbul's popular pedestrian Istiklal Avenue, late on Sunday, November 13, 2022 [Emrah Gurel/ AP]

Published On 14 Nov 2022

14 Nov 2022

 

 

 

Turkish police have arrested a suspect in the bombing in central Istanbul that left at least six people dead and 81 others wounded, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

 

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told the news agency on Monday that the suspect in custody was the “person who left the bomb that caused the explosion” on a busy thoroughfare in Turkey’s largest city.

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously described Sunday’s attack on Istiklal avenue as “treacherous” and said it “smells like terrorism”.

 

He said initial information suggested that a “woman had played a part” in the attack.

 

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag later told A Haber television that the woman was seen sitting on one of the benches on Istiklal Avenue for more than 40 minutes. The explosion occurred just minutes after she got up.

 

“There are two possibilities,” he told A Haber. “There’s either a mechanism placed in this bag and it explodes, or someone remotely explodes [it]”.

 

 

Al Jazeera has obtained pictures of the woman suspected to be behind the bombing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sinem Koseoglu, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Turkey, said officials believe she is a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).

 

Koseoglu said officials believe two young men were also involved.

 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES