ISTANBUL – A suicide bomber who killed himself and 10 German tourists in Istanbul’s historic heart had registered with Turkish immigration authorities but was not on any list of known militant suspects, Reuters reported Wednesday citing Interior Ministry sources.
The bomber, who authorities say is an ISIS member recently arrived from Syria, blew himself up on Tuesday in Sultanahmet square near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, major tourist sites in one of the world’s most visited cities.
Asked about a report in the Turkish media that the bomber had registered at an immigration office in Istanbul a week ago, Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed that the man’s fingerprints were on record with the Turkish authorities.
“Your assessment that his fingerprints were taken and there is a record of him is correct. But he was not on the wanted individuals list. And neither is he on the target individuals list sent to us by other countries,” Ala told a joint news conference with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere.
The Haberturk newspaper published what it said was a CCTV image of the bomber, named in some local media as Saudi-born Nabil Fadli, at an Istanbul immigration office on Jan. 5.
It said he was identified by a sample of a finger taken from the blast site.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Tuesday the bomber had been identified from body parts at the scene. He was born in 1988 and was thought to have been living in Syria, from where he was believed to have recently entered Turkey.
Ten Germans were killed in the bombing, a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry said, raising the death toll among Germans from 9 previously. Five more are in intensive care.
Turkey, which like Germany is a member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, has become a target for the radical Sunni militants.
The Istanbul attack, targeting groups of tourists as they wandered around the square, appeared to mark a change in ISIS tactics against Turkey.
“This incident is a bit different. In previous attacks, it was Turks who crossed into Syria to fight Kurds and then crossed back to attack Kurdish targets,” said Aaron Stein, senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.
“It’s different in terms of intentions and in terms of its targets,” he told Reuters.
Foreign tourists and Turks paid their respects at the site early on Wednesday. Scarves with the Bayern Munich football club emblem were left along with carnations and roses at the scene, before Turkish police sealed off the area.
De Maiziere said there were no indications Germans had been deliberately targeted and that he saw no reason for people to change travel plans to Turkey. He said Germany stood resolutely by Turkey’s side in the fight against terrorism.
“If the terrorists aimed to disturb, destroy or jeopardise cooperation between partners, they achieved the opposite. Germany and Turkey are becoming even closer,” he said, adding there was no link to Germany’s contribution to the fight against terrorism.