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  Turkey hunts would-be bombers

Turkey hunts would-be bombers

AFP/REUTERS
Published : Mar 22, 2016, 12:49 am IST
Updated : Mar 22, 2016, 12:49 am IST

Turkish newspapers carried a front-page pictures on Monday of three more men, believed to be planning suicide bomb attacks for Islamic State, after a suspected member of the radical militant group kil

Turkish newspapers carried a front-page pictures on Monday of three more men, believed to be planning suicide bomb attacks for Islamic State, after a suspected member of the radical militant group killed three Israelis and an Iranian in Istanbul.

Interior minister Efken Ala identified the alleged perpetrator of the attack as Mehmet Ozturk from Gaziantep, on the border with Syria. “The attacker has been formally identified. He is linked to the terrorist organisation Daesh (Islamic State),” Mr Ala said.

Sunday’s attack on Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian avenue lined with international stores and foreign consulates, was the fourth suicide bombing in Turkey this year. Two in Istanbul have been blamed on Islamic State, while the two others in the capital Ankara have been claimed by Kurdish militants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday his country was suffering “one of the biggest waves of terrorism in its history”, vowing to crush the ISIS jihadists and Kurdish rebels behind a string of attacks.

“We will hit these terrorist organisations as hard as possible,” Mr Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul, two days after a suspected ISIS suicide attack in Istanbul that killed four foreigners.

“Faced with the terrorists’ new strategies we will develop new modes of combat and quickly overcome them,” Mr Erdogan said, promising democratic values would not be sacrificed in the fight.

A derby between arch-rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce in the city was also postponed on Sunday after the authorities received a “serious” threat.”

The attacks have underscored Turkey’s struggle to prevent spillover from the war in neighbouring Syria, raising questions as to whether its security services are overstretched as they fight on two fronts.

Israel PMO, meanwhile, has raised the alert level on Turkey declaring it as “unsafe” for its citizens.

Location: Turkey, Istanbul