Istanbul: Turkish police were searching today for three alleged Islamic State members suspected of planning further attacks after a suspected IS suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed four foreigners, media reported. Turkish media published photographs of the three suspects, named as Haci Ali Dumaz, Savas Yildiz et Yunus Durmaz. According to police sources quoted by Dogan news agency, the three- all Turkish nationals- are believed to be planning attacks in busy public spaces, including in Istanbul.
Yildiz was initially suspected of being the bomber who blew himself up Saturday on Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Caddesi, a two-kilometre-long pedestrian shopping street in
the heart of the European side of the city.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala later named Ozturk as the perpetrator and said he was “linked to the terrorist organisation Daesh,” another name for IS. Three Israelis and one Iranian were killed in the attack, which injured 39 people, most of them foreign tourists. Four people were still listed in critical condition in hospital today.
The bombing was the sixth in Turkey since July, four of which have been blamed on IS. The other two were claimed by Kurdish rebels. Over 200 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the bloodshed. In a sign of the climate of fear in the country, a football derby between Istanbul arch-rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce was postponed Sunday two hours before kickoff, after the authorities received information about a “serious” threat.
