The suspect behind the Istiklal Street terrorist attack in Istanbul on Sunday, which claimed at least six lives and left dozens injured, was trained by the PKK/YPG terrorist group, Turkish police said in a statement Monday.
The suspect, a Syrian woman, was apprehended earlier, while at least 46 others were also captured in connection with the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.
Officials said the suspect used TNT explosives for the attack. The suspect, identified as A.A, apparently first hid out in a location in the Esenler district on Istanbul's European side before she moved to a house in Küçükçekmece, where she was captured.
The security forces also shared the footage of the moments when she was captured in a house and a photo of the suspect in handcuffs.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told reporters that they also captured the suspect's handler, "who ordered her to carry out the attack," adding there were more operations underway in connection with the attack.
Istanbul police said in a statement that the suspect was directly ordered by senior terrorists in Ain al-Arab (Kobani) – a Syrian town where the PKK/YPG dominates. Police scanned some 1,200 security cameras to determine the route of the suspect.
During the initial interrogation, the suspect admitted that she was trained by the PKK/YPG as an "intelligence agent" and entered Türkiye through Afrin, Syria, to carry out the attack.
