NATO chief sends condolences over deadly terror attack in Istanbul

ISTANBUL (AA) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg expressed his condolences on Monday to the victims of the terrorist attack in central Istanbul that left six people dead and 81 others injured.

Addressing a press conference in The Hague, he said: "My condolences go to all those affected and to the Turkish people."

The Turkish government said Sunday's attack in the crowded Istiklal Avenue was carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Turkish police arrested the perpetrator of the attack, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who planted the explosives in the crowded commercial hub, in a pre-dawn raid, while dozens of other suspects were detained.

The police said Albashir has confessed she was trained by the YPG/PKK terror group as an intelligence operative and entered Türkiye illegally from Syria’s Afrin.

“Our assessment is that the order for the deadly terror attack came from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria, where the PKK/YPG has its Syrian headquarters,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terror group’s Syrian offshoot.