Detainees in Sultanahmet blast increases to five: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the number of detainees in relation to the deadly bombing in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet Square has increased to five, in addition to a suspect who was detained on Jan. 12 in Istanbul.

Speaking after a security meeting in Istanbul late on Jan. 13, Davutoğlu stated that four more suspects had been detained by police in the investigation so far.

Davutoğlu reiterated that a link with the suicide bomber and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

“The assailant’s link to Daesh has been determined but Daesh is an intermediary organization,” said Davutoğlu, using an acronym for ISIL, and hinting at another power being behind attack in central Istanbul. 

He added that Turkey was capable of tackling all kinds of powers that aim to use an intermediary organization and hit Turkey through this organization. 

The ISIL suicide bomber who killed 10 tourists by blowing himself up in Istanbul on Jan. 12 has been identified as a Syrian national born in Saudi Arabia who recently appealed to a district directorate of migration management to seek asylum in Turkey.