DNA evidence shows Ankara bomber came from Turkey, not Syria

DNA evidence secured by Turkish prosecutors shows the bomber in Ankara who killed 28 people in a February 17 attack targeting a military convoy came from eastern Turkey and was not a Syrian refugee, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Turkish government had claimed the bomber was from northern Syria and was linked to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a US-backed group fighting Islamic State in Syria. The YPG denied any links and said it never attacked Turkey, dpa reported.

However, a shadowy Turkish group known as the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed the attack two days later and said the bomber was a Turkish citizen from Van, in the east of the country.

The DNA evidence, which Hurriyet said was obtained after the bomber’s father was arrested after the TAK claim, appears to support that the attacker was indeed born in Van in 1989 and was named Andulbaki Somer.

He appears to have registered as a Syrian refugee in Turkey using a fake identity.

The attack in the heart of the Turkish capital is the latest in a string of bombings to hit Turkey, including one in Istanbul last month which killed 12 German tourists.
[orient-news.net]
23/2/16
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