Published 14 November 2022 at 11.53
Foreign. A woman from Syria has been arrested for planting the bomb that killed at least six people in central Istanbul. She is said to have admitted that she was trained by the Swedish Social Democrats' cooperation party PYD.
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Surveillance images show the woman running away from the scene after the detonation. In her hand is a red rose.
The woman, who is said to be Ahlam Albashir, is suspected of being the one who set off the blast that killed at least six people and injured around 80 others on the popular pedestrian street Istiklal Caddesi near Taksim Square in Sunday.
Among the victims was a nine-year-old girl with her father and a 15-year-old girl with her mother.
In the pictures, Ahlam Albashir is seen leaving a bag at the place where the bomb was triggered, according to Turkey's Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ.
According to Turkish media, the woman has admitted in interrogation that she was trained by the Kurdish groups PKK, PYD and YPG, writes Aftonbladet.
– Our assessment is that the order if the deadly terrorist attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria, where the PKK/YPG has its Syrian headquarters, says Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, according to Hürriyet.
Ahlam Albashir allegedly entered Turkey illegally to carry out the act .
PYD – known for its collaboration with the Swedish Social Democrats – however denies involvement dning in the act.
“We condemn all attacks that attack civilians and see it as terrorism, we distance ourselves from all acts of violence against civilians and we have nothing to do with this terrorist act,” says the PYD party leader Salih Muslim to Ekot.
A large number of other people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of involvement in the terrorist act.