CNN –
According to Turkish authorities, the woman arrested on suspicion of having carried out the deadly bomb explosion in Istanbul this Sunday is a Syrian national who was trained by Kurdish militants.
Turkish police said in a statement that the suspect entered the country through the northern Syrian city of Afrin without documentation to carry out the attack in the heart of Turkey’s largest city, which killed at least six people and injured more than 80 others.
According to the statement, officers scanned 1,200 security cameras to determine the route of the alleged assailant, who allegedly planted the bomb at the scene before leaving in a taxi. About 46 people were arrested, police added.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu earlier said the government believed Kurdish separatists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) were most likely responsible for the attack. assault, a claim denied by the armed wing of the PKK.
“It is a PKK/PYD terrorist organization according to our preliminary findings,” Soylu told a news conference at the site of the attack on Istiklal Avenue. He did not elaborate or provide details of how the researchers had reached this conclusion.
The police added: “In his interrogation, the person stated that he was trained as a special intelligence officer by the terrorist organization PKK/PYD/YPG and that he entered our country illegally through of Afrin for this attack.”
The People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the PKK’s armed wing, denied involvement in Sunday’s blast, according to a statement from the group released by the pro-PKK Agence News Firat (ANF).
“We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery. We have nothing to do with this incident,” the group said, according to ANF.
A spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, also denied involvement in Sunday’s attack. The US-allied SDF is the official defense force of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and its armed forces are led by the YPG.
Turkey’s conflict with Kurdish separatist groups has lasted four decades and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The PKK, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Security camera footage of Sunday’s incident shows a woman sitting on a bench for more than 40 minutes and then getting up a minute or two before the explosion, leaving behind a purse or plastic bag, she said. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told A Haber news channel. sunday
The explosive TNT was detected in citizens who lost their lives, in the vehicle used by the suspect and at the scene of the crime, according to the chemical analysis carried out by the police.
The blast took place on Istiklal Street in Beyoglu Square, Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said.
“We wish God’s mercy for those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery for the injured,” Yerlikaya tweeted.
The six people killed include Yusuf Meydan, a member of Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Services, and his daughter Ecrin, according to Derya Yanık, the agency’s minister.
Soylu told reporters on Monday that 50 of the 81 injured people have been released from hospital and 31 people are still being treated.
Witness Tariq Keblaoui said he was shopping on Istiklal Street when the explosion occurred about 10 meters (32.8 feet) in front of him.
“People dispersed immediately,” said Keblaoui, a Lebanese journalist who was on his last day of vacation in the city.
“Very soon after, I could see how many wounded people were on the ground,” Keblaoui told CNN. He says he saw dead bodies and victims who were seriously injured.
“There was a man in the store bleeding from his ears and legs, and his friends were crying near him,” Keblaoui said.
Istiklal Street was full of visitors when the explosion took place on Sunday afternoon, he said.
“It went very quickly from a very quiet Sunday with a very busy street full of tourists to what looked like the aftermath of a war zone,” Keblaoui said.
Global leaders united to condemn the attack.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted his “deepest condolences” to the Turkish people, while French President Emmanuel Macron said: “To the Turks: We share your pain. We are with you in fight against terrorism”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted his “deep sadness” at news of the explosion. “I offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Zelensky said. “The pain of the friendly Turkish people is our pain.”
The United States “strongly condemns the act of violence that took place today in Istanbul,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Sunday. “Our thoughts are with those injured and our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones.”
Soylu rejected the White House’s message of condolence regarding the attack, saying: “Our alliance with a country whose Senate sends funds to this mentality that provides funds for Kobani and other terrorist areas and has as aimed at disrupting the peace in Turkey. That is clear.”
CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment on Soylu’s statements.