The number of people taken into custody following the terrorist attack in Istanbul carried out yesterday against police officers guarding the Israeli consulate has now risen to 12 suspects following the latest operations; one of them was reportedly detained in the nearby city of İzmit — from where the three terrorists are believed to have traveled to Istanbul in two vehicles — and another in Konya — in central Turkey — in separate operations. Furthermore, the investigation has confirmed that the attackers had conducted prior reconnaissance in the area before carrying out their attack.
The incident took place yesterday around 12:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. CET) in front of the police checkpoint located next to the Yapı Kredi Plaza business center, situated on Cömert Street in the Levent neighborhood, where the Israeli consulate is located. Three individuals armed with automatic weapons opened fire on the security officers, triggering a shootout with the police that left one terrorist dead and the other two seriously wounded. Two officers were also injured, though their injuries are minor and their lives are not in danger.
The two wounded terrorists were admitted to a hospital under police custody, where they were interrogated, while three other individuals allegedly involved were arrested in the vicinity of the scene. Based on their statements and police investigations, additional suspects linked to the attack on the Israeli consulate were identified and arrested; so far, no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the main suspicions point toward the terrorist group ISIS.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the terrorist attack against its consulate in Istanbul yesterday and, in an official statement, thanked Turkey and “the Turkish security forces’ swift action in thwarting this attack.”
The wife of one of the terrorists tried to convince him to abandon his plan
As part of the investigation, Istanbul Police counterterrorism teams carried out raids on several addresses in the provinces of Istanbul, Kocaeli, and Konya, where five more suspects were detained. Subsequently, two other individuals were arrested in the course of the investigations.
Together with the two terrorists hospitalized and the three suspects initially detained, the total number of detainees following yesterday’s attack now stands at 12, according to the Turkish news network TRT Haber. Ten of them remained in custody today at the Istanbul Police Headquarters, while the two wounded attackers — identified as Onur Çelik and Enes Çelik, both Turkish citizens — will be transferred to police facilities after being discharged from the hospital.
The attacker who died in the shootout has been identified as Turkish citizen Yunus Emre Sarman. Meanwhile, investigations have also confirmed that the terrorists who organized the attack on the Israeli consulate in Istanbul had been surveilling the location beforehand. The wife of one of the wounded terrorists, Onur Çelik, has given a statement to the police, in which she claimed that she tried to convince her husband not to carry out his plans.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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