İstanbul bomber, accomplice 'brought bomb-laden bag from Syria'

Still image from security camera footage shows the assailant sitting on the bench where the explosion occurred. (Photo: AA)

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• The bomber's statement to the police has been revealed

• Accordingly, Ahlam Albashir met her accomplice, Bilal Hasan, in Syria's Manbij

• The two traveled to Idlib and crossed into Türkiye with a bomb-laden bag on July 27

• Pretending to be a married couple, they lived and worked at a textile workshop in the Esenler district for four months

• On the day of the attack, they came to Beyoğlu together. Hasan gave Albashir the bomb and left

• Hasan is believed to have escaped to Bulgaria

• Two human smugglers believed to help Hasan escape have also been detained

Fifty suspects detained in relation to Sunday's bomb attack in Beyoğlu, İstanbul, were brought to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan early today (November 17), while two other detainees were released after giving statements to the police.

Six people were killed and 81 others were wounded after a bomb detonated on İstiklal Avenue, a busy pedestrian street.

Ahlam Aslbashir, 23, who planted the bomb, was detained in the Küçükçekmece district about eight hours after the incident.

Bilal Hasan, who came to Türkiye from Syria together with Albashir and pretended to be her husband, is believed to have fled to Bulgaria.

Two human smugglers who helped him escape were also detained yesterday. Ammar and Ahmad Jarkas brothers, who have a criminal record for human smuggling were nabbed after returning to İstanbul from the border province of Edirne.

The detainees include a suspect identified with the code name "Hüsam," who allegedly aided Albashir and others in the preparation for the attack and then escaped to Syria. He was nabbed in Azaz, a town controlled by Türkiye and its allies in Syria's north.

Prosecutors accompanied by Kurdish and Arabic interpreters began taking the statements of the suspects.

Albashir's statement

According to the police, Albashir said in her first interrogation that she had received the order for the attack from a member of the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group, in Kobanî, Syria, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Türkiye's government blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the YPG, which it considers the PKK's extension in Syria. Both groups denied any involvement.

Albashir said a person named Hasan, who she said was an important person in Manbij, a Syrian city controlled by Kurdish groups, had introduced her to a YPG member codenamed "Hacı."

"Then I met Hacı in a ranch house in the region. He told me there that I was going to go to Türkiye with someone named Bilal. He gave me 400 lira and two cell phones. I met Bilal, whom I had never met before, in Idlib, and we pretended to be husband and wife.

"On July 27, we illegally crossed into Hatay, and, on the same day, we came to İstanbul.

"While on the way, I didn't know where we were going. We went to the home in the location sent to Bilal Hasan's phone when we were in İstanbul. I later learned that the home we had stayed at for four months, and the workplace we had pretended to work at were owned by Ferhat Habeş.

"Bilal Hasan brought the bomb-laden bag with him from Idlib.

"For four months, we hadn't gone anywhere with Bilal. In the past month, we went to Taksim with Yasit K. twice for reconnaissance. We walked on İstiklal Avenue as pedestrians.

"On the day of the attack, we went to Beyoğlu with Bilal Hasan and Yasir K. Bilal Hasan gave me the bag, saying, 'I've things to do.' I took the bag and walked on the street. I sat on the bench where the explosion occurred.

"While waiting there, for a moment, I went to a store across the street, leaving the bag and the plastic bag behind. At that moment, a photograph and a video taken while I was sitting were sent to my phone. Then, the organization executive named Hacı called me by phone and said, 'Go back to the bags.' I sat on the bench again.

"After the instruction that 'Leave there' came by phone, I walked towards Taksim Square."

However, security camera footage showed Albashir had never left the bench.

The family who hosted Albashir

After carrying out the attack, Albashir was detained in an apartment where Kurdish family from Afrin, Syria, lives in the Kanarya neighborhood of the Küçükçekmece district. The human smuggler Ahmad Jarkas was also detained in the same neighborhood.

Zekeriya and Emine H. the residents of the apartment, told the Iraqi Kurdistan-based Rudaw Media that their Arab neighbors had asked them to host Albashir as a guest.

"Our former neighbors, Hatice, and his son, Ahmad [Jarkas], came to our home. They had moved two years ago. They would visit us once in a while. That night [November 13] Hatice came to our home with that girl [Ahlam Albashir]. I asked her, 'Who is she?' She said, 'She is our guest. She is going to Europe tomorrow.'

"They took a seat. I made tea for them. The girl drank tea, and then said, 'I'm cold.' she had military trousers. She said, 'I'm from Aleppo.' She had rings on her nose and chin. She had a black skin.

"I told her, 'You don't look like Syrians. She said, 'I'm from Syria.' I asked her where she would go in Europe. She said, 'I don't have anyone. My husband passed away. My sister is in Syria, so I'll go to Europe'."

Emine H. and her son said they were not aware of the explosion because they didn't have internet at home. "They conspired against us," they said, accusing the smugglers.

Five family members, Ahlam Albashir and Hatice Jammar were detained during the raid. (AS/VK)