The suspect who left the bomb that killed six people and injured 81 others on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue was captured, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said early Monday. Soylu was speaking to reporters at the scene of the explosion, which tore down the busy shopping street.

He said 21 others linked to the bomber were also detained, adding the existing findings showed it was an attack perpetrated by the PKK/YPG terrorist group, referring to a branch of the PKK terrorist group in Syria's north, bordering Türkiye. "We have evaluated that the instruction for the attack came from Kobani," Soylu told reporters, adding that the bomber had "passed through Afrin in northern Syria."

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.