Turkish Authorities Name Prime Suspect in Suruc Attack

20-year-old Abdurrahman Alagoz, a citizen of Turkey, is the main suspect in the terrorist attack in the city of Suruc near the Syrian border, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

Turkish police report that they found Alagoz’s documents on an unrecognizable corpse at the blast site. According to his mother, he left six months ago to go “somewhere abroad” and returned home only ten days ago. The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on July 20.

Police also found the remains of a woman who they suspect may be involved in the organizing of this attack. Her identity has not been established yet.

As a result of the terrorist attack in Suruc on July 20, at least 32 people were killed and nearly 100 were wounded, said the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus. The attack was directed against volunteers, who were going to help in the restoration of Kobane, Syria, located near Suruc. As a result of many months of fighting between the IS and Kurdish fighters, Kobane has been almost completely destroyed.

On July 22, two police officers were killed in the Turkish city of Ceylanpэnar. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a banned group in Turkey, claimed responsibility for the murders and in a statement on its website said that police officers have been shot “because of the cooperation with IS militants”, according to Reuters.

After the terrorist attack in Suruc, hundreds of Kurds gathered at Taksim Square in Istanbul, chanting: “Erdogan is an accomplice of murderers”. Demonstrators said that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling party “support and cultivate the IS against Kurds”.

Eka Karsaulidze