Perpetrator of terror attack in Istanbul caught in 10 hours

ISTANBUL

The special team established after the bombing on Istanbul’s famous İstiklal Avenue that claimed the lives of six people has caught the perpetrator in Küçükçekmece district about 10 hours after the attack by inspecting 1,200 security cameras.

The woman, who was traced by raiding 21 addresses and identified as Syrian national Ahlam Albashir, first went to Esenler and then to Küçükçekmece after dropping the bomb, daily Hürriyet reported.

The suspect reportedly stated in her interrogation that she was trained as a “special intelligence officer” by the PKK/YPG that she joined.

A police team established after the attack collected the recordings of 1,200 security cameras in the zone of the attack and conducted a detailed examination.

Albashir was apprehended at the address alleged to have been identified through other suspects detained 10 hours after the attack.

A large amount of foreign currency and gold were found in the house where the bomb disposal expert police searched for explosives. A loaded pistol and a box of bullets belonging to the woman were seized.

The camouflage pants and boots she was wearing at the time of the attack were also found in the house.

According to the examination of the records and the statements of the detainees, Albashir made reconnaissance on Istiklal Avenue on three separate days, with a pirate taxi driven by a man and a member of the organization, with whom Albashir had come from Syria before the attack, the daily said.

Pretending to be a couple, the duo got a job in a textile workshop in Esenler, it added, suggesting that the person who delivered the bomb to Albashir continues to be sought.

“We assess that the order for the deadly terror attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria, where the PKK/YPG has its Syrian headquarters,” Interior Minister Soylu said earlier.

The minister told reporters that the terrorist’s organization had “given orders for the main suspect to be killed to avoid evidence being traced back to them.”

Istanbul police said 50 people were detained in total, specifying that the explosive used in the attack was TNT.

The suspects would have been smuggled to Greece if they had not been caught, Soylu also informed.

İstiklal Avenue was reopened to pedestrian traffic at 6 a.m. on Nov. 14 after police concluded inspections at the scene.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said eight public prosecutors and two deputy public prosecutors were assigned to the investigation. “All aspects of the incident are being actively investigated,” he said.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.