TerrorismIstanbul terrorist was a Syrian asylum seeker
Turkish media report that the terrorist who killed ten tourists in Istanbul entered the country as an asylum seeker from Syria. Most of the dead and wounded in the attack were German nationals. The Turkis police was able to identify the attacker quickly because his fingerprints were already stored in Turkey’s the refugee biometric database.
Turkish media reported today (Wednesday) that the suicide bomber who killed ten tourists in Istanbul was registered in Turkey as a Syrian refugee. The Dogan news agency and the Sabah daily said the attacker, Nabil Fadli, had entered Turkey from Syria as a refugee on 5 January.
The reports say the investigators were able to identify the 28-year-old Fadli from a finger found at the bomb site. The fingerprint matched the fingerprints which were taken when Fadli registered for asylum.
DW reports that the Turkish authorities announced they had arrested one person in connection with the attack in the popular tourist area of Sultanahmet Square. Investigators have rounded up sixty-eight individuals after the attack, but it was not immediately clear how many were directly connected to the bombing
Fadli, a follower of ISIS, blew himself up near the ancient Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius on Tuesday, making it the first time tourists have been deliberately targeted in Turkey.
Most of those killed were German, but Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was “no indication” Germans had been specifically targeted.
Nine of the dead were German, and one was a Peruvian citizen. Among the fifteen wounded are Germans, Norwegians, Peruvians, and at least one Turk.
