Turkey arrests key suspect in 2013 Reyhanli attack

By Baris Kilic

ANKARA (AA) – A key plotter of the 2013 double car bombing in Reyhanli, Turkey was arrested Monday, according to judicial sources.

Yusuf Nazik, 34, was brought before the 9th High Criminal Court in Ankara and formally charged, the sources added.

Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) captured Nazik in the Syrian port city of Latakia and brought him back to Turkey on Sept.12.

According to information gathered by Anadolu Agency, MIT brought Nazik to Turkey in a "pinpoint operation" and began interrogating him over the deadly attack, which killed scores of people in southern Turkey.

Nazik, who was marked in the blue category of the Interior Ministry's wanted terrorists list, confessed to planning and organizing the bombings, saying that on a tipoff from Syrian intelligence units, he scouted the crime scene prior to the attack and moved explosives from Syria to Turkey.

The May 2013 bombings in the Reyhanli district of Hatay province near Turkey’s border with Syria left 53 dead. Some 912 buildings, 891 workplaces and 148 vehicles were heavily damaged in the attack.

On Feb. 23, 2018, a Turkish court sentenced nine of the 33 suspects in the attack to aggravated life imprisonment and 13 others with prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years.