MİT nabs key perpetrator of 2013 Reyhanlı bombing
ANKARA
The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has captured one of the perpetrators of the deadly bombings in the southern city of Hatay's Reyhanlı district in 2013.
The MİT identified the hideout of Muhammed Dib Koralı, who was among the planners of the deadly attack and provided the bombs, security sources told news agencies on Jan. 13.
He has been handed over to Hatay police, the sources added.
On May 11, 2013, two car bombs exploded in Reyhanlı, 5 kilometers from the Syrian border and the busiest land border post with Syria. The attack killed 53 people and injured over 140.
In February 2018, a court sentenced nine suspects to life imprisonment and 13 other people to prison terms of 10 to 15 years for the bombings. Another suspect, Yusuf Nazik, was captured in Syria and brought to Türkiye later that year.
He confessed to planning and organizing the bombings on a tip from Syrian intelligence units. Nazik was handed down multiple aggravated life terms by an Ankara court for murder and harming state unity.
The Syrian government denied responsibility for the attack.
In 2022, the United States extradited the man who reportedly gave the order for the bombings.
U.S. authorities delivered Mehmet Gezer, a drug lord sought on a red notice with different 17 charges, to Turkish police upon their arrival at Istanbul Airport.
“The order came to me from Syria,” Gezer was quoted as saying while being questioned by police.
