Their role was “logistical,” said Sofia prosecutor’s spokesperson. The prosecution requested a detention placement for four of them.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Five suspects were indicted in Bulgaria for the attack perpetrated on November 13 in Istanbul, attributed by the authorities to the fighters party of the workers of Kurdistan (PKK) and their allies in Syria, announced on Saturday, November 19 , the Bulgarian prosecution. They were charged “for having helped” one of the alleged authors of the attack to flee, said Siiki Mileva, spokesperson for the Attorney General of Sofia.
Their role was “logistical”, she said, adding that the prosecution had requested a detention for four of them. According to local television channels, three are from Moldova and another from an Arab country, which is specified.
Six people were killed and 81 others, injured in the explosion, not claimed at this stage, occurred Sunday in the middle of the afternoon in a pedestrian artery, in the heart of Istanbul.
The PKK and the YPG denies any involvement
Seventeen people were imprisoned in Turkey, including a 23-year-old woman accused of having laid the bomb on a bench on avenue Istiklal. Arrested in an apartment in the suburbs of Istanbul, Alham Albashir, presented as Syrian nationality, would have entered illegally in Turkey from northeast Syrian, according to the authorities, who claim that she recognized the facts during her police custody.
According to the official news agency Anadolu, quoting the police report, she said that she was for the first time in contact with the PKK in 2017, through her ex-friendly friend. She would have kept a link with the organization after their breakup. The PKK and the YPG (People’s Protection Units), Kurdish militia active in Syria and accused, by Turkey, of being affiliated with the PKK, denied any involvement in the attack.