An İstanbul court on Saturday ordered the arrest of three suspects, who were previously detained for alleged links to June 7’s bomb attack that claimed 11 lives, including civilians.
Six police officers and five civilians died and 36 others were injured in a bomb attack that took place in the Vezneciler area of İstanbul’s central Beyazıt district at around 8.40 last Tuesday. The incident happened when a parked car exploded while a bus carrying riot police was passing by it.
In the wake of the explosion, twelve suspects were detained for having rented the car that was loaded with explosives and remotely detonated in the assault. Out of the 12 detainees, six were later released after giving their testimony, while the other six were referred to court.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), an offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claimed responsibility later last week.
The PKK is designated as a “terrorist organization” by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), as well as Turkey. The 32-year-old conflict, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives, halted in March 2013 as part of the settlement process initiated between the PKK and the Turkish government. However, the PKK ended the ceasefire in the summer of 2015