Turkish court arrests two suspects in Berlin truck attack

ISTANBUL

Two men suspected of links to the slain perpetrator of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack on a Christmas market in Berlin last year were arrested by an Istanbul court on March 21.      

Bilal Y.M. and Youssef D. were arrested for membership in an armed terrorist organization under an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.      

Anis Amri was shot dead by Italian police following the attack in which a truck plowed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital on Dec. 19, 2016, killing 12 people and wounding 49 others. 

The jihadist group claimed responsibility for the truck rampage one day later.

Last week, police detained three Lebanese-German suspects, including Youssef D. and Bilal Y.M., at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport upon intelligence that they would try to go to Europe.

On March 20, M.A.K., a Syrian-origin ISIL suspect who was allegedly linked to Amri, was arrested by a court in the western province of İzmir on charges of being a member of a terror organization.