On 6 January 2015, Diana Ramazova from

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North ...

detonated a bomb vest at a

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

's central Sultanahmet district, near the Blue Mosque and

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

. The attack killed Ramazova and injured two police officers, one of whom later succumbed to his wounds. Ramazova was the pregnant widow of a Norwegian-Chechen ISIS fighter in Syria who had been killed in December 2014.

Attack

Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said the woman, who reportedly spoke English with "a thick accent" and was dressed in a niqab, entered the police station and told officers she had lost her wallet before detonating the bomb.

Turkish Prime Minister The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Turkish Parliament and presided over the cab ...

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as Mi ...

told reporters that the bomber was carrying two other devices, which were safely defused by officers on the scene. Emergency services rushed to the blast site, while the tram line that runs through the district was temporarily suspended. Besides the perpetrator only one other person died in the attack; a young police officer from

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

who had just became a father.

Perpetrator

Six people, including three foreigners, were detained over the attack. On January 7, the far-left armed group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP/C) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was meant "to punish (the) murderers of

Berkin Elvan Berkin Elvan (5 January 1999 – 11 March 2014) was a 15-year-old boy who was hit on the head by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer in Istanbul during the June 2013 anti-government protests in Turkey. He died on March 11, 2014. Lawyer ...

" and "to call to account the fascist state that protects AKP's corrupt, stealing ministers". Berkin Elvan was a 15-year-old boy who was killed by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer during the 2013 Istanbul protests. The bombing came five days after another member of DHKP/C attacked police on guard outside the

Ottoman Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

-era

Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( tr, Dolmabahçe Sarayı, ) located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 t ...

, hurling two grenades that failed to explode. The building houses the Istanbul offices of the Turkish prime minister. The DHKP/C had been involved in several deadly attacks on Turkish government targets in recent years, including a 2013 suicide bombing at the US embassy in Ankara. The group also claimed that the suicide bomber was Elif Sultan Kalsen. After being called to a criminal medical center to identify the body, Kalsen's family denied the claims, stating that it was not their daughter. On January 8, 2015, the perpetrator was identified as Diana Ramazova, a Chechen-Russian citizen from

. She had married Abu Aluevitsj Edelbijev, a Norwegian citizen of Chechen origin in 2014. They spent three months in Istanbul from May to July 2014, before entering Syria. In Syria Edelbijev fought for ISIS and was killed in December. Ramazova, who was pregnant at the time, irregularly reentered Turkey shortly after his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Istanbul suicide bombing Explosions in 2015 2015 in Istanbul January 2015 events in Turkey Attacks on police stations in the 2010s Censorship in Turkey ISIL terrorist incidents in Turkey

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Terrorist incidents in Istanbul Terrorist incidents in Turkey in 2015 2015 murders in Turkey Building bombings in Turkey Attacks on buildings and structures in Istanbul Attacks in Turkey in 2015

Attack

Perpetrator

See also

References