Explosion in Istanbul: What was found in the apartment where the bomb suspect was arrested

Turkey today blamed Kurdish rebels for an explosion that killed six people on a busy shopping street in Istanbul and police arrested a Syrian woman suspected of planting the bombwhile he also proceeded to arrest 46 other people.

Istanbul police announced that the suspect’s name is Ahlam Albasir, a Syrian citizen, and was arrested during an overnight raid in the suburb of Kucukcekmece.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were responsible for the explosion that occurred yesterday, Sunday, on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue.

Soylu claimed that the order for the attack had been given in Kobani, a city in northern Syria where Turkish forces have carried out operations against the YPG in recent years.

Ankara maintains that the YPG is its wing PKK. The US has supported the YPG in the conflict in Syria, resulting in friction with NATO ally Turkey.

Albasir is seen in handcuffs in a video broadcast by state broadcaster TRT Haber. He has curly hair and wears a red jumpsuit with the words “New York” written on it.

According to her police IstanbulAlbasir said during interrogation that she was trained by Kurdish rebels and entered Turkey from Afrin, another city in northern Syria, as reported by international agencies and relayed by the Athens News Agency.

Television news reports had earlier shown photos of what appeared to be a woman leaving a package under a planter in the middle of the avenue shortly before the attack.

The explosive device consisted of “high-powered TNT,” according to police, who announced that inside the apartment, in which he arrested Albasir and others, he discovered a significant amount of euros and gold coins in a sack, as well as a pistol and bullets.

A Turkish official said the possibility that the Islamic State group was responsible for the attack “has not been completely ruled out”.

The attack killed six Turkish civilians, two members from each of three families, including a 9-year-old girl and her father and a 15-year-old teenage girl and her mother. No organization has yet claimed responsibility.

Of the injured, two of the five hospitalized in the intensive care unit are in critical condition, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. He is among the 26 injured from the attack who are still in hospital, while 55 injured have been discharged.

Soilou today added a diplomatic dimension to the crisis by stating that Turkey ‘rejects’ US condolences for ‘supporting terrorists’ in Kobani. He likened the US’s condolences to “the murderer who is the first to arrive at the scene of the crime.”