Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has said that the person, who planted the bomb on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street that killed at least six people, has been arrested, according to state-run Anadolu agency’s English-language Twitter account.
“We consider it a terrorist act, carried out by a perpetrator, who is believed to be a woman, detonating a bomb, according to preliminary information,” Oktay was quoted as saying by Sputnik.
In the Istanbul attack, at least 81 people were injured when an explosion rocked the busy pedestrian street. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay called it a “terrorist attack.”
“We consider it to be a terrorist act as a result of an attacker, whom we consider to be a woman, detonating the bomb,” CNN quoted Oktay as saying on Sunday.
The blast occurred on the pedestrian tourist street Istiklal on Sunday afternoon. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll from the explosion rose to six.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that CCTV footage shows a woman sitting on a bench for more than 40 minutes and then getting up one or two minutes before the explosion, leaving a bag or plastic bag behind.
He further informed that earlier, a woman, who was suspected of being involved in the attack, was kept in custody. Bozdag, who made the comments in an interview with privately-owned A Haber news channel, said Turkish security forces believe the woman is the suspect, and officials are investigating her, according to CNN.
