Istanbul: The number of people in custody has risen to 50 after Turkish police detained additional suspects in connection with a bombing of a busy pedestrian street in Istanbul, which killed six people and injured several dozen others.
Istiklal Avenue was the target of the blast on Sunday, which served as a stark reminder of the bombings that devastated the public's sense of security in Turkish cities between 2015 and 2017.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and affiliated Syrian Kurdish groups were blamed for the attack by Turkish authorities. However, Kurdish terrorist organizations have denied involvement.
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A senior official revealed on Tuesday that Turkey intends to pursue targets in northern Syria after completing a cross-border operation against PKK militants in Iraq.
The official stressed that threats against Turkey by Kurdish militants or Daesh are unacceptable and that Ankara will eliminate them "one way or another" along its southern border.
There have been three incursions into northern Syria by Turkey against the YPG militia, which it claims is an offshoot of the PKK. Turkey, the US and the European Union all consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
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Several hours after the explosion, police raided Istanbul and detained 47 people, including a Syrian woman suspected of having dropped a TNT-containing bomb in Istiklal.
The woman, identified by police as Ahlam Albashir, admitted to carrying out the attack and had illegally entered Turkey from Syria, according to police.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Tuesday that 50 suspects are now in custody, but did not provide any further details. The independent T24 news website quoted the minister as saying that Turkey continues to fight terrorism. "No terrorist group will succeed in plotting against Turkey."
After the attack, about 80 people were hospitalized; At least 57 of them have been released. According to officials, the condition of two of the injured is critical and six injured are being treated intensively.
The six people killed in the blast included two girls aged 9 and 15, as well as members of three families. Since 1984, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been engaged in an armed insurgency in Turkey. Since then thousands of people have died in this conflict.
While both Ankara and Washington view the PKK as terrorist organizations, they disagree with the position of Syrian Kurdish organizations that have partnered with the US in the fight against the Daesh group in Syria.
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Turkey's Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu said on Monday that his country rejects US condolence messages because of US support for Kurdish militias in Syria, which has angered Turkey.