Istanbul bombing: Turkey swift to accuse Kurdish militants

Turkish police said Monday that they have detained a Syrian woman with suspected links to Kurdish militants and that she confessed to planting a bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, killing six people and wounding several dozen others.

Sunday’s explosion occurred on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to Taksim Square.

“A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced early Monday. Police later identified the suspect as Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national.

The Istanbul Police Department said videos from around 1,200 security cameras were reviewed and raids were carried out at 21 locations. At least 46 other people were also detained for questioning.

The suspected allegedly departed the scene in a taxi after leaving TNT-type explosives on the crowded avenue, police said.

Sunday’s explosion was a shocking reminder of the anxiety that pervaded the Turkish population during years when such attacks were common. The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Islamic State group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.

Police said the suspect told them during her interrogation that she had been trained as a “special intelligence officer” by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, as well as the Syrian Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party and its armed wing. She entered Turkey illegally through the Syrian border town of Afrin, according to the police statement.

The Kurdish militants, however, reportedly denied involvement in the attack.

“Our people and the democratic public know that we are not related to this incident, that we will not directly target civilians,” according to a statement from the militant group that was carried by the pro-PKK Firat News website.

Officials with the main Kurdish-led force in northeast Syria didn’t respond to calls and messages by The Associated Press for comment on the attack.

Mr. Soylu said the suspect would have fled to neighboring Greece if she hadn’t been detained, the interior minister said.

Earlier, Mr. Soylu said security forces believe that instructions for the attack came from Kobani, the majority Kurdish city in northern Syria that borders Turkey. He said the attack would be avenged.

“We know what message those who carried out this action want to give us. We got this message,” Mr. Soylu said. “Don’t worry, we will pay them back heavily in return.”

Mr. Soylu also blamed the United States, saying a condolence message from the White House was akin to “a killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish groups.

In its condolence message, the White House said it strongly condemned the “act of violence” in Istanbul, adding: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO ally [Turkey] in countering terrorism.”

Turkish television broadcast footage purporting to show the main suspect being detained at a house where she was allegedly hiding. It said police searching the house also seized large amounts of cash, gold items, and a gun.

Police later also released a photograph showing the woman, in handcuffs, standing between two Turkish flags.

The minister told reporters that Kurdish militants had allegedly given orders for the main suspect to be killed to avoid evidence being traced back to them.

Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said of the 81 people who were hospitalized, 57 have been discharged. Six of the wounded were in intensive care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said. The six who were killed in the blast were members of three families and included children ages 9 and 15.

Istiklal Avenue was reopened to pedestrian traffic at 6 a.m. Monday after police concluded inspections at the scene. People began leaving carnations at the site of the blast, while the street was decorated with hundreds of Turkish flags.

The PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.

Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terrorist group, but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against IS in Syria.

In recent years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led a broad crackdown on the militants as well as on Kurdish lawmakers and activists. Amid skyrocketing inflation and other economic troubles, Mr. Erdogan’s anti-terrorism campaign is a key rallying point for him before presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

Following the attacks between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead, Turkey launched cross-border military operations into Syria and northern Iraq against Kurdish militants, while also cracking down on Kurdish politicians, journalists, and activists at home.

“In nearly six years, we have not experienced a serious terrorist incident like the one we experienced yesterday evening in Istanbul. We are ashamed in front of our nation in this regard,” Mr. Soylu said.

Turkey’s media watchdog imposed restrictions on reporting on Sunday’s explosion – a move that bans the use of close-up videos and photos of the blast and its aftermath. The Supreme Council of Radio and Television has imposed similar bans in the past, following both attacks and accidents.

Access to Twitter and other social media sites was also restricted on Sunday.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara. Robert Badendieck in Istanbul, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, contributed.