Turkey detains suspect in Istanbul attack: Minister Ala

Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish interior minister, Efkan Ala, said at a press conference with his German counterpart that Turkey was “seriously investigating” the attack and its perpetrators, and that the first suspect had been detained after the blast on Tuesday.

She said Suleimanov, born in 1984, was suspected of being linked to IS, while Russian news agencies quoted an unnamed Russian security source as saying he was suspected of helping send new recruits from Russia to the militant group.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Tuesday the bomber had been identified from body parts at the scene, was born in 1988, and was thought to have been living in Syria, from where he was believed to have recently entered Turkey. The paper reported that the suicide bomber, which it identified as Nabil Fadli, applied to Turkey’s Migration Management Directorate in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul on January 5 as an asylum seeker.

The Washington InstituteTurkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance and the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, has repeatedly said it wants to flush Islamic State from a zone in northern Syria just across its border.

It carried out two major suicide attacks a year ago, including one in the capital, Ankara, in October that killed more than 100 people.

The attack, which also wounded 15 other people, including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman, was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners.

Journalist in Turkey, Andrew Finkle, says the bomber was not on a terrorist watch list – but the attack has raised questions about border control.

Five people have been arrested in connection with the attack: Ala said one person has been arrested; later, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said four others had been detained.

The number of Germans killed in the Istanbul suicide bombing has risen to 10.

Suleimanov was wanted by police in the Tartarstan region of Russian Federation in connection with ISIS-related terror activities, according to the ministry spokesperson, who said his details had been circulated to Interpol.

Fadli, a former furniture shop manager, initially fought with Free Syrian Army soldiers against Syrian president Bashir al-Assad but switched his support to ISIS. De Maiziere said those talks will also address “the determined fight against terrorism”. “I see no reason to refrain from trips to Turkey”.

Turkey has detained 68 suspected members of the so-called Islamic State jihadist group in raids across the country, according to state media.

And a week before the attack, 220 people “identified” as IS members were detained in Turkey, the interior minister said on Wednesday.