Turkish authorities claimed to have foiled a probable suicide attack by a suspected Kurdish militant in Istanbul on Saturday as the military stepped up bombing raids on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq.
Police arrested a woman in her 30s in the heart of Turkey’s largest city who they said had been faking pregnancy and was carrying 8.8kg of explosives as well as several detonators.
The amount of material the suspect was carrying suggested she was preparing an attack on a scale as “murderous” as the twin bombings in Istanbul in July that killed 17 people, provincial governor Muammer Guler told reporters.
Police believed the planned attack would have been a suicide bombing “because of the belt she was wearing,” Guler said.
The governor said police had established the woman belonged to the “separatist terrorist organization,” a reference to the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which was also blamed for the July attacks.
The arrest of the would-be attacker in Istanbul’s Sisli district came after Turkish jets bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq overnight.
The Turkish military said 31 PKK positions in the Harkurk border area had been successfully hit in the bombing raids before they were then targeted with artillery fire.
It was the sixth such air raid since Oct. 3 when PKK rebels attacked a Turkish border post resulting in the deaths of 17 soldiers and at least 23 militants, Turkish figures showed.
The Turkish parliament on Wednesday extended the government’s mandate to order strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for a second year.
Under the mandate that parliament renewed, the Turkish army carried out several air strikes in northern Iraq as well as a week-long ground incursion in February.
The operations were backed by intelligence from the US, which is nevertheless worried that a large-scale Turkish intervention could destabilize Iraq’s relatively calm north.
Turkish officials charge that about 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in the autonomous enclave, where they allegedly enjoy free movement, are tolerated by the region’s Kurdish leaders and obtain weapons and explosives for attacks in Turkey.
Iraqi authorities have repeatedly pledged to curb the PKK, but say the group takes refuge in mountainous regions that are difficult to access.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS