Attack in Istanbul: police in Bulgaria arrest suspects

The Bulgarian prosecutor’s office has arrested five people who are said to be connected to last Sunday’s attack in Istanbul, which left six dead and around 80 injured. Chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev said on Saturday that they were accused of supporting acts of terrorism.

After investigations and in close cooperation with prosecutors in Turkey, Bulgarian special police arrested three men of Moldovan origin and a man and a woman of Syrian-Kurdish origin. They are also accused of smuggling and human trafficking.

However, a Bulgarian court decided in the evening to keep the four men in custody on charges of human trafficking because there was not enough evidence to support terrorist activities. The woman had been waived because of her poor health on further detention.

On Friday, a Turkish court had ordered the pre-trial detention of 17 people. They are suspected of being involved in the attack. According to the authorities, among them is the suspected bomber, a Syrian citizen. No one has known about the fact so far. The Turkish government blames Kurdish fighters. Police have said the suspected bomber was trained by Kurdish fighters in Syria.

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