ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkish police on Wednesday arrested 13 suspected Islamic State militants, including three Russian nationals, a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 foreigners – most of them German tourists – in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district.
The attack, which also wounded 15 other people, including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman, was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners.
Turkish authorities identified the bomber as a Syrian born in 1988, who had recently entered Turkey and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified him as Nabil Fadli, and said he was born in Saudi Arabia.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday that authorities were working to identify people connected to the attacker. He would not provide details on the investigation, saying it would compromise those efforts.
The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists, but it was not clear if the arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with Islamic State fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Ten other people were detained in Turkey’s third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya.