Crusader Corner: Suicide Bombing in Turkey Kills Two American Citizens

BEIRUT — Authorities in Turkey on Sunday named a Turkish man with alleged ties to the Islamic State as responsible for the weekend suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed four foreign tourists and deepened fears of rising instability in the country.

The attack on Saturday on Istiklal Street, a major thoroughfare that is one of Istanbul’s biggest draws for tourists and locals alike, underscored the extent to which Turkey is confronting an accelerating threat from extremists on two fronts.

It was the sixth major suicide bombing in Turkey in eight months and came less than a week after an attack claimed by Kurdish militants in the capital, Ankara, killed 37 people, also in a busy shopping district.

As security forces went on heightened alert across the country, which is marking a public holiday, a big soccer tournament in Istanbul was postponed. CNN Turk quoted the Istanbul governor’s office as saying that “serious intelligence” indicated the likelihood of an attack on the match between the Fenerbahce and Galatasaray teams.

“The question, unfortunately, is not if there will be a terror attack again, but when the next attack will be,” said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “To me, this looks like Turkey walking slow motion into disaster.”

The victims of Saturday’s suicide bombing have been identified as an Iranian and three Israelis, two of whom also held American citizenship, according to Turkish officials and the White House.

At least two dozen people were injured, most of them foreign tourists from Germany, Iceland and Ireland, among other countries.

Turkish authorities named the bomber, who also died, as Mehmet Turk, born in 1992, from the southern city of Gaziantep near the border with Syria. The suspect’s identity was confirmed through DNA tests performed on his remains and his relatives, authorities said.

“Current findings show that the terrorist has links to the Daesh terror organization,” Interior Minister Efkan Ala told reporters in Ankara, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State militant group.

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