Turkish intelligence has detained a man suspected of being behind a car bomb attack in southern Turkey over a decade ago, which killed dozens of people.
The National Intelligence Agency (MIT) mounted a cross-border operation into Syria to arrest Mohammed Dib Korali, who is wanted in connection with two car bombs that hit the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay province in 2013, Turkish security sources said Monday.
Officers subsequently handed him over to Hatay police, they said. Dib Korali is suspected of helping to coordinate the attack and provide the explosives.
The Reyhanli bombings were one of the deadliest terror attacks in Turkey’s history, killing 53 people and injuring dozens more in May 2013.
Ankara has accused Syrian intelligence of planning the attack, which the Assad regime denied.
This is the third person thought to be involved in the attack that Turkey has captured in Syria. Yusuf Nazik was arrested by MIT in 2018 and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison the following year. Ercan Bayat was captured in Latakia in 2020.
Following his arrest, Nazik said he had coordinated with Syrian intelligence officials who he claimed orchestrated the attack.
Others have claimed the bombings were likely perpetrated by the Islamic State or the now-defunct Al-Qaeda-linked group Jabhat al-Nusra.
Documents leaked by Turkish hacker collective RedHack reportedly pointed to the involvement of “Al-Qaeda-linked groups”.
Dib Korali’s arrest comes a month after authorities arrested a man named Cengiz Sertel who was accused of transporting the bombs.
Mehmet Gezer, who is accused of organizing the attack, was arrested by Turkish authorities in 2022 after being extradited from the US.
In 2018 a Turkish court handed life sentences to nine individuals for involvement in the attack. Thirteen others were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison.
