2015 Istanbul suicide bombing | |
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Location | Sultanahmet, Fatih, Istanbul |
Date | 6 January 2015 |
Target | Police station |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrators | Islamic State (ISIL) [1] |
Assailant | Diana Ramazova |
Suicide attacks in Turkey |
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Groups responsible |
Attacks |
On 6 January 2015, Diana Ramazova from Dagestan detonated a bomb vest at a police station in Istanbul's central Sultanahmet district, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The attack killed Ramazova and injured two police officers, one of whom later succumbed to his wounds. [2] [3] Ramazova was the pregnant widow of a Norwegian-Chechen ISIS fighter in Syria who had been killed in December 2014.
Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said the woman, who reportedly spoke English with "a thick accent" and was dressed in a niqab, entered the police station and told officers she had lost her wallet before detonating the bomb. [2] Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters that the bomber was carrying two other devices, which were safely defused by officers on the scene. Emergency services rushed to the blast site, while the tram line that runs through the district was temporarily suspended. [3] Besides the perpetrator only one other person died in the attack; a young police officer from Trabzon who had just became a father.
Six people, including three foreigners, were detained over the attack. [4]
On January 7, the far-left armed group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP/C) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was meant "to punish (the) murderers of Berkin Elvan" and "to call to account the fascist state that protects AKP's corrupt, stealing ministers". Berkin Elvan was a 15-year-old boy who was killed by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer during the 2013 Istanbul protests. [3] The bombing came five days after another member of DHKP/C attacked police on guard outside the Ottoman-era Dolmabahçe Palace, hurling two grenades that failed to explode. The building houses the Istanbul offices of the Turkish prime minister.
The DHKP/C had been involved in several deadly attacks on Turkish government targets in recent years, including a 2013 suicide bombing at the US embassy in Ankara. [5]
The group also claimed that the suicide bomber was Elif Sultan Kalsen. After being called to a criminal medical center to identify the body, Kalsen's family denied the claims, stating that it was not their daughter. [6]
On January 8, 2015, the perpetrator was identified as Diana Ramazova, a Chechen-Russian citizen from Dagestan. She had married Abu Aluevitsj Edelbijev, a Norwegian citizen of Chechen origin in 2014. They spent three months in Istanbul from May to July 2014, before entering Syria. In Syria Edelbijev fought for ISIS and was killed in December. Ramazova, who was pregnant at the time, irregularly reentered Turkey shortly after his death. [7] [8] [9] [10]
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left, and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Republic of Turkey since the 1980s. It was renamed in 1994 after factional infighting. It is classified as a terrorist group by Japan, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
In June 2000, the North Caucasian Chechen separatist-led Chechen insurgents added suicide bombing to their tactics in their struggle against Russia. Since then, there have been dozens of suicide attacks within and outside the republic of Chechnya, resulting in thousands of casualties among Russian security personnel and civilians. The profiles of the suicide bombers have varied, as have the circumstances surrounding the bombings.
The 2007 Ankara bombing was a suicide attack that occurred in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, on 22 May 2007. Six people were reported killed, including one of Pakistani origin, and 121 people were wounded. A seventh person died from his injuries on 7 June and another on 17 June raising the death toll to eight. A ninth person died on 4 July from his injuries.
Dursun Karataş was a Turkish communist of Kurdish descent. He commanded the revolutionary left and DHKP-C. DHKP-C is seen as a "terrorist organization" in Turkey, the EU and the USA. The revolutionary left was closed in the 90s due to lack of personnel.
On 1 February 2013, a suicide bomber attacked the United States embassy in Ankara, Turkey, killing a security guard and wounding three others. The bombing was subsequently denounced as an act of terrorism by both Turkey and the United States.
During the Gezi Park protests in Turkey, police forces repeatedly used excessive force to prevent and disperse peaceful demonstrations. As a result, it is estimated that there were 22 fatalities and least at least 8,163 injuries, of which 63 in serious or critical condition.
Berkin Elvan was a 15-year-old boy who was hit on the head by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer in Istanbul during the June 2013 anti-government protests in Turkey. He died on March 11, 2014. Lawyers representing the family said Elvan's condition worsened over the last week of his life, with his weight dropping to 16 kg from 45 kg. Widespread demonstrations erupted following Berkin's death.
The DHKP/C insurgency in Turkey refers to the Marxist–Leninist insurgency waged by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) against the Republic of Turkey, ongoing since 1990. The insurgency began with political assassinations in the early 1990s, and has escalated in the past few years with the use of suicide bombers.
The Suruç bombing was a suicide attack by the Turkish sect of Islamic State named Dokumacılar against Turkish leftists that took place in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa Province in Turkey on 20 July 2015, outside the Amara Culture Centre. A total of 34 people were killed and 104 were reported injured. Most victims were members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Youth Wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), university students who were giving a press statement on their planned trip to reconstruct the Syrian border town of Kobanî.
The Turkey–Islamic State conflict were a series of attacks and clashes between the state of Turkey and the Islamic State. Turkey joined the War against the Islamic State in 2016, after the Islamic State attacks in Turkey. The Turkish Armed Forces' Operation Euphrates Shield was aimed against both the Islamic State and the SDF. Part of Turkish-occupied northern Syria, around Jarabulus and al-Bab, was taken after Turkey drove the Islamic State out of it.
The 2015 police raids in Turkey were a series of police raids conducted by the General Directorate of Security in 16 different Provinces of Turkey. The July 20th, 2015 Suruç bombing in Suruç killed 32 Kurds. Claimed by ISIS, it was perceived by Kurdish militants as a collaboration between ISIS and Turkey security services, leading to a series of revenge attacks on Turkish policemen and military positions in Adıyaman and Ceylanpınar. The Ceylanpınar incidents saw the assassination of 2 policemen by operatives of disputed affiliation, attributed to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and became the Casus belli for Turkey operations in both Turkey and Iraq.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Turkey.
On 12 January 2016, a suicide attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district killed 13 people, all foreigners, and injured 14 others. The attack occurred at 10:20 local time, near the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, an area popular among tourists. The attacker was Nabil Fadli, a Syrian member of the Islamic State.
The February 2016 Ankara bombing killed at least 30 people and injured 60 in the capital of Turkey. According to Turkish authorities, the attack targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying both civilian and military personnel working at the military headquarters during the evening rush hour as the vehicles were stopped at traffic lights at an intersection with İsmet İnönü Boulevard close to Kızılay neighborhood. Several ministries, the headquarters of the army and the Turkish Parliament are located in the neighbourhood where the attack occurred. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) took responsibility for the attack and said they targeted security forces. Censorship monitoring organization Turkey Blocks reported nationwide internet restrictions beginning approximately one hour after the blast pursuant to an administrative order. The attack killed 14 military personnel, 14 civilian employees of the military, and a civilian.
On 19 March 2016, a suicide bombing took place in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district in front of the district governor's office. The attack occurred at 10:55 (EET) at the intersection of Balo Street with İstiklal Avenue, a central shopping street. The attack caused at least five deaths, including that of the perpetrator. Thirty-six people were injured, including seven whose injuries were severe. Among those injured were twelve foreign tourists. Among those killed, three were of Israeli nationality. On 22 March, the Turkish interior minister said that the bomber had links with ISIL.
On 7 June 2016, at around 08:40 (UTC+3), a bombing occurred in central Istanbul, Turkey, killing 12 people and injuring 51 others, three of them seriously. The attack targeted a bus carrying policemen as the vehicle passed through the Vezneciler district near the Şehzade Mosque and the Vezneciler Metro station.
The Atatürk Airport attack, consisting of shootings and suicide bombings, occurred on 28 June 2016 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts staged a simultaneous attack at the international terminal of Terminal 2. Three attackers and forty-five other people were killed, with more than 230 people injured. Monitoring group Turkey Blocks identified widespread internet restrictions on incoming and outgoing media affecting the entire country in the aftermath of the attack.
The 2012 Istanbul suicide bombing occurred at a police station in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul, Turkey. The suicide bomber was İbrahim Çuhadar, a member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C). On 11 September 2012, he went to the police station and attempted to enter, then detonated the explosives at the entrance of the station after the police refused him entrance. As a result of the explosion, the attacker and a police officer died and seven others were injured.
On 31 March 2015, a hostage crisis occurred in the Şişli district of Istanbul, Turkey, at the Istanbul Justice Palace. The public prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who conducted the investigation of the Berkin Elvan case, was taken hostage by the members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C). After the incident, the building was evacuated and security measures were taken by the police. Members of the organization gave a list of requests to the police while threatening to kill the prosecutor. In the incident that lasted about nine hours, Prosecutor Kiraz was killed by DHKP-C militants. The two attackers were also killed.