Turkey detains 11 more over airport attack, focus on alleged mastermind
July 01, 2016 19:45
Turkish police detained 11 foreigners on Friday suspected of belonging to an Islamic State cell linked to the attack on Istanbul's main airport, state media reported, and attention turned to a suspected Chechen mastermind.
Forty-four people were killed in Tuesday's bombings and shootings, which targeted one of the world's busiest airports. The three suspected attackers were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official has said.
The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper has said the organiser of the attack, the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in NATO-member Turkey this year, was suspected to be a man of Chechen origin called Akhmed Chatayev. Chatayev is identified on a United Nations sanctions list as a leader in Islamic State responsible for training Russian-speaking militants.