Eight PKK suspects detained over Istanbul car-bomb attack

ISTANBUL

Eight suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been detained in an operation launched after a bomb attack in Istanbul’s Sancaktepe district. Eight people, of whom five were soldiers, were injured when a bomb-laden car was detonated near a military post in Sancaktepe on May 12. 

One of the detained suspects, identified as İ.İ., was the person who allegedly parked and detonated the car bomb, as reported by Anadolu Agency. 

After the attack anti-terror police officers launched a simultaneous operation on 70 different addresses in Istanbul. 

The interrogations of the detained suspects were ongoing and the number of detentions could reportedly increase.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin said the explosion inside the parked car occurred at around 4:45 p.m., shortly after a shuttle bus carrying military personnel departed from the İsmail Hakkı Tunaboyu military post.

A number of buildings and shops near the military post were damaged by the explosion. The front of the shuttle bus was also damaged by shrapnel from the bomb-laden car.