The interior minister says police have arrested “the person who left the bomb” that exploded on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue. Turkish police have arrested a suspect in a bomb attack in central Istanbul that left at least eight dead and 81 others injured, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told the news agency on Monday that the suspect taken into custody was “the person who left the bomb that caused the explosion” on a busy street in Turkey’s largest city. #EMERGENCY The person who set off the bomb that exploded Sunday on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue has been arrested by police, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu says pic.twitter.com/I08OTC4rPb — ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) November 14, 2022 Soylu blamed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for Sunday’s blast on Istiklal Avenue, saying “Our assessment is that the order for the deadly terrorist attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria,” where he said that the organization is based in Syria. “We will retaliate against those responsible for this heinous terrorist attack,” he added. No claim has yet been made. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called the explosion “treasonous” and said it “reeks of terrorism”. Speaking before his departure for the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, Erdogan said initial information suggested a “woman played a role” in the attack. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told A Haber television later on Sunday that the woman was seen sitting on one of the benches on Istiklal Avenue for more than 40 minutes. The explosion occurred minutes after he got up, he said. “There are two possibilities,” he told A Haber. “There is either a device placed in this bag and it explodes, or someone detonates remotely [it]”. Al Jazeera has obtained photos of the woman suspected of being behind the bombing. #Al Jazeera gets photos from different angles of the woman suspected of being behind the Istanbul attack pic.twitter.com/DgdojrKMMY — Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) November 13, 2022 Sinem Koseoglu, Al Jazeera’s Turkey correspondent, said officials believe he is a member of the PKK and that two young men are also involved. The explosion occurred at 16:20 (13:20 GMT) on Sunday afternoon, sending debris into the air and leaving several people lying on the ground. The area was packed as usual, with shoppers, tourists and families. Soilou, the interior minister, said on Monday that the death toll had risen to eight. At least five are in intensive care units, with two of them in “critical condition,” he said. Sunday’s blast is the first major bomb explosion in Istanbul in several years. Twin bombings outside an Istanbul football stadium in December 2016 killed 38 people and injured 155 in an attack claimed by an offshoot of the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
