The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday asked the Turkish judiciary to prosecute 17 of the 49 suspects arrested in connection with the bomb attack in the country’s capital on Sunday that killed six people and injured 81.
After the suspects were questioned by 29 prosecutors at the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has officially requested the arrest of 17 of them, TRT Haber broadcaster reported.
Among the grounds for their prosecution, the Prosecutor’s Office has listed crimes such as destruction of the unity and integrity of the state, deliberate murder, deliberate attempt to kill, or complicity in a deliberate crime of murder.
The judicial body has also referred three suspects to the judge in charge of the case for judicial control, while taking a decision to deport the other 29 suspects.
So far, police officers have arrested 49 suspects, of whom 37 are foreign nationals, mostly Syrians, the TV channel reported.
Authorities have also seized about 4,000 dollars, 5,000 euros and 10,000 lire, as well as jewelry from the house where the main suspect in the bomb attack, who was arrested on Sunday night, was staying.
Teams from the Istanbul Police Department early Monday morning arrested the woman suspected of carrying out the terrorist attack, as well as 21 other people.
Istanbul has been hit by several blasts in the past, including a suicide bombing in Istiklal in 2016 by a suspected member of the Islamic State jihadist group that claimed the lives of five people.
In the same year, the PKK, considered by Turkey to be a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 38 people outside a soccer stadium in the Besiktas area of central Istanbul.
