Only one person was arrested in direct connection with Tuesday’s attack, which killed 10 German tourists and wounded 15 people.
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The police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, said Turkey’s Dogan News Agency.
Nabil Fadli, who blew himself up among groups on Tuesday near the city’s most popular tourist attractions at Sultanahmet Square, had entered Turkey as a refugee from Syria.
Philip Hammond will also discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria caused by the dual horrors of Bashar Assad’s brutal regime and IS during the meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
And yet, Fadli – described as a 28-year-old Saudi-born Syrian national – arrived as a “refugee” on January 5, completed the necessary paperwork, and even got fingerprinted without setting off any alerts.
Turkish hotel cancellations have begun to pour in following this week’s suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 Germans, tourism officials have revealed.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said one police officer and five civilians were killed while 39 people were injured, including six police officers. “In previous attacks, it was Turks who crossed into Syria to fight Kurds and then crossed back to attack Kurdish targets”, said Aaron Stein, senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.
“The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way”, said Efkan Ala, the Turkish interior minister.
More suspects linked to Istanbul bombing arrested.
In a harrowing account, Şatiroğlu said she saw the man preparing to launch the attack after blending into a group of 33 German citizens visiting the Theodosius obelisk.
The Turkish leader said Ankara made a decision to hit the IS group as soon as it had determined that it was responsible for the “heinous” bombing at Istanbul’s main tourist district, just steps away from the landmark Blue Mosque.
Germany has sent a team of detectives to Istanbul to help investigate the attack, but the country’s foreign ministry said there was no evidence Germans were specifically targeted. He strongly condemned the attack, which he said targeted the whole of humanity.
On Wednesday, three more suspected IS members were detained in the southern resort city of Antalya.
Anadolu said the suspects were allegedly in contact with ISIS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group.
Although Turkey initially carried out a limited number of air strikes against Islamic State in Syria as part of the U.S.-led effort, its warplanes have not flown in Syrian air space since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in late November, triggering a diplomatic row with Moscow.
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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
