Bulgaria arrests 5 suspects with ties to Istanbul blast

ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – Bulgarian Police arrested on Saturday five people in connection with Istanbul blast that claimed the lives of six people and injured more than 80 others, according to the Bulgarian prosecution service.

Siika Mileva, a spokesperson for Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor, said the detainees were charged with helping one of the people who carried out the bombing, according to ABC News.

Istanbul blast took place on November 13.

They are accused of providing “logistical assistance” to help the person flee.

Anti-Terrorism Department in the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Sofia supervises the arrest process.

Some of the detainees are from Moldova, eastern Europe, and some of them are Arabs, according to Bulgarian media outlets.

The Bulgarian prosecution did not provide further details regarding to the Turkish allegations about the source of the attack.

The Turkish authorities pointed the finger at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and published a picture for a woman called Ahlam al-Bashir, purporting that she had received instructions from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-held city of Kobani, northern Syria, and that she had entered Turkey from Afrin, a city in northwest Syria invaded by Turkey in January 2018.

Reporting by Hozan Zubeir