NATO chief sends condolences over deadly terror attack in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg expressed his condolences on Monday to the victims of the terrorist attack in central Istanbul that left six people dead and 81 others injured.

Addressing a press conference in The Hague, he said: "My condolences go to all those affected and to the Turkish people."

The Turkish government said Sunday's attack in the crowded Istiklal Avenue was carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Turkish police arrested the perpetrator of the attack, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who planted the explosives in the crowded commercial hub, in a pre-dawn raid, while dozens of other suspects were detained.

The police said Albashir has confessed she was trained by the YPG/PKK terror group as an intelligence operative and entered Türkiye illegally from Syria’s Afrin.

“Our assessment is that the order for the deadly terror attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria, where the PKK/YPG has its Syrian headquarters,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terror group’s Syrian offshoot.