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WORLD NEWSThursday 14 January 2016
Istanbul bomber registered as refugee before attack Eyeing a presidency
MEHMET GUZEL mally, as a refugee, as an seekers, said Firas Abi-Ali, have repeatedly threat- again, Sarkozy urges
SUZAN FRASER asylum-seeker.” an analyst with the security ened those who leave,
Associated Press The attack wounded 15 consultancy IHS Country saying they will regret their Arab troops in Syria
ISTANBUL (AP) — The suicide people, including nine Ger- Risk. journey to Europe.
attacker who detonated a mans and citizens of Nor- “It seems to make it less The Soufan security firm AYA BATRAWY
bomb that killed 10 German way, Peru and South Korea. likely this was anything but said in an analysis Wednes- Associated Press
tourists in the heart of Istan- Six of the victims remained a centrally commanded day that IS was not short on ABU DHABI, United Arab
bul’s historic district had hospitalized on Wednes- operation by the Islamic volunteers for suicide mis- Emirates (AP) — France’s
registered as a refugee just day. State,” he said. sions and the migrant crisis former President Nicolas
a week earlier, Turkish offi- Sarkozy on Wednesday
cials said Wednesday, rais- Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, accompanied by his wife Sare, 2nd left, and Ger- called on Arab govern-
ing questions over whether man Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, left, visit the site of Tuesday’s explosion, in the historic ments to deploy troops to
extremists are posing as Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Syria to fight the Islamic
asylum-seekers to inflame State group, describing the
anti-immigrant sentiment in (Bulent Kilic, Pool Photo via AP) conflict against extremism
Europe. as a “Third World War”.
Turkish authorities identified Although not as deadly as It is not the first time the was posing a security chal- Sarkozy’s tough talk comes Fra
the assailant in Tuesday’s two attacks in Turkey last group has taken advan- lenge for Europe. as the political survivor sets the
attack as a Syrian man who year that were blamed on tage of the chaos caused “Given how much time the his eyes on another bid for of
was born in 1988, and said IS, Tuesday’s bombing had by the huge influx of asy- Islamic State has had to ad- the presidency in 2017. Sar- tio
he was affiliated with the heightened resonance be- lum-seekers into Europe minister explosives training kozy, who leads the con- ho
Islamic State group. Turk- cause it struck at Turkey’s by ensuring that suicide in Raqqa, Mosul, and else- servative party The Repub- an
ish media, including some $30 billion tourism industry, bombers were registered where, the group is likely licans and was France’s Bu
close to the government, which has already suffered and fingerprinted — and not running low on bomb- president in 2007-2012, is ag
identified him as Nabil Fadli from a steep decline in would thus be identified as makers or suicide mission considered among the fa- in
and said he was Saudi- Russian visitors since Turkey refugees after their deaths. volunteers,” the firm said. vorites to win the party’s en
born. shot down a Russian war- Two of the suicide bomb- “The chaos on Europe’s primary in November, his “W
The extremist group has not plane near the Syrian bor- ers who died Nov. 13 at southern borders, involv- main rival being former air
so far claimed the attack. der in November. France’s national stadium ing a combination of over- Prime Minister Alain Juppe. the
Meanwhile, Turkish police The fact that the bomber had registered in Greece whelming numbers of refu- Speaking at a policy cen- “A
arrested five people sus- had registered as a Syrian — and their forged Syrian gees, inadequate screen- ter in the United Arab Emir- gro
pected of direct links to refugee suggests central passports were found on ing processes, and untold ates, Sarkozy said the Nov. He
the bomb attack which planning by Islamic State their bodies. numbers of false travel 13 attack on Paris that clo
took place just steps from leaders, either to cover Thousands of Muslims have documents, is a security killed 130 people and was stra
the historic Blue Mosque in their tracks or provoke a fled the territory under Is- challenge of the highest claimed by the Islamic co
Istanbul’s storied Sultanah- backlash in Europe against lamic State control in Syria order.”q State group showed “there Ara
met district. legitimate Syrian asylum- and Iraq and the extremists can be no such thing as a Sa
The suspects were not iden- compromise between us op
tified. and them.” “I would de- Ba
The bomber had recently scribe this as a Third World in
entered Turkey, authorities War,” he said before add- lied
said, and Interior Minister ing there can be nothing ov
Efkan Ala confirmed reports short of a “total annihila- tim
he had registered with tion of extremists, jihadists Ga
an Istanbul branch of the and terrorists.” the
Migration Management “We have to wage a to- mu
Authority, providing finger- tal war and wage it now,” “Th
prints that allowed officials Sarkozy said. “We need to no
to quickly identify him. Ala wipe these savages from
said the bomber wasn’t on the face of the earth.”
any Turkish or international Sarkozy spoke in front
watch lists for IS militants. of a packed audience
“This person was not some- in the UAE, which has
one who was being moni- helped lead a crackdown
tored,” Prime Minister Ah- against opposition Islamists
met Davutoglu said. “It is throughout the region and
a person who entered nor- is part of the Saudi-led war
in Yemen against Iranian-
allied Shiite rebels and a
member of the U.S.-led co-
alition striking IS fighters in
Syria and Iraq.q
