Attack in Istanbul: suspect arrested

After the attack that killed six people in Istanbul, the police arrested a suspect. The state-affiliated broadcaster TRT quoted the Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on the night as saying that emergency services arrested the person who planted the bomb on the Istiklal shopping street. There are connections to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. Soylu announced retaliation, according to TRT.

Six people were killed and 81 injured in the attack on the busy shopping street on Sunday. The Turkish government had previously stated that a woman was suspected of planting a bomb on the promenade, which is also popular with tourists. Soylu did not initially confirm that “a woman” was responsible for the assassination.

The PKK is on terrorist lists in Turkey, Europe and the US, and has positions in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Their headquarters are in the northern Iraqi Kandil Mountains.