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The testimony of the main suspect of November’s İstanbul blast raises questions on whether there is another female who can be used in a similar attack, wrote journalist İsmail Saymaz on Halk TV.
Ahlam Albashir remains the main suspect of the 12 November bombing in İstanbul’s Taksim district, which killed six Turkish citizens, including a father and his three-year-old daughter, and injured 81 others.
Footage circulated in the media right after the explosion showing a woman holding a red rose fleeing from the crime scene before the blast. The police later identified the woman as Syrian national, Albashir and shared her photos in custody with her hands handcuffed. The Turkish police also said in a statement that the woman has confessed to planting the bomb.
There is still no indictment prepared for the incident, for which the government holds the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its supposed affiliates responsible. Turkey launched military strikes against the Kurdish forces in northeast Syria on 20 November, with the country’s Interior Minister claiming that the order for the İstanbul blast was given from Kurdish-controlled Syrian town of Kobane.
Saymaz, who obtained Albashir’s 13-page testimonies, points out that the suspect claimed the existence of another young woman who is also sent from Syria and who can be used in another bomb attack.
According to Saymaz, in the last paragraph of the testimony, Albashir talks about a 16-17 year old girl who was brought to İstanbul from Syria and was provided accommodation by Bilal Hassan, whom Albashir calls her husband.
“About a month ago, Bilal said that a 16-17 year old girl from Syria had come to Turkey with critical equipments, that he had to arrange her a place to stay and that he would receive a large amount of money in return,” Saymaz quoted Albashir as saying. According to the suspect, Hassan received $400 for finding this girl a place to stay.
“I think that this girl sent from Syria will be used in another act just like me,” said Albashir.
