8 suspects being sought in 2013 Reyhanlı bombing

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Officials work on one of the scenes of twin car bomb attacks in the town of Reyhanlı near the Turkish-Syrian border in this file photo dated May 12, 2013.

Spurred by testimony from a key plotter of the deadly 2013 double car bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkish security forces are now seeking out eight suspects, according to judicial sources. 

Ankara prosecutors issued warrants for the suspects, including one identified as Mehmet Gezer, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media. 

According to the testimony of Yusuf Nazik, Gezer played a key role in the bombing, the sources added. 

Captured by Turkish intelligence in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sept. 12, Nazik, 34, has confessed to playing a role in the deadly bombing in the southern Turkish border town of Reyhanlı in the Hatay province which killed 53 people.

Nazik is now being interrogated by security and intelligence teams in the capital Ankara. 

In his interrogation, Nazik told Turkish security forces that on a tip off from Syrian intelligence units, he scouted the crime scene prior to the attack and moved explosives from Syria to Turkey.

Nazik was brought before the Ninth High Criminal Court in Ankara and arrested on Sept. 24.  

The May 2013 bombings in Reyhanlı left 53 dead.

Some 912 buildings, 891 workplaces, and 148 vehicles were also heavily damaged in the attack.