RED ROSE 'BOMBER'
Female Istanbul bomb suspect ‘confesses to planting deadly explosive and fleeing with red rose’ as she’s paraded by cops
A WOMAN has confessed to planting a bomb that killed six people in Istanbul, police have said.
Video shows the moment Ahlam Albashir was arrested and she was later paraded in handcuffs after she had been seen fleeing with a red rose in her hand.
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Earlier CCTV images showed a suspect fleeing holding a red rose moments before a blast ripped through a packed shopping street, wounding at least another 81 people on Sunday afternoon.
Turkish police have now named the suspect as Albashir, a Syrian national who they say told them she had been trained as a special intelligence officer by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Images also showed her on the floor of her flat with police officers pointing guns at her and camouflage trousers on the ground.
Horrific images showed bodies strewn on Istiklal Avenue, central Istanbul's main shopping street near Taksim Square and among the dead are a young girl and her dad.
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Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said a suspect was in custody and blamed Kurdish militants for the attack.
Police said they have detained 47 suspects, including the person who had planted the bomb.
Albashir was seen in purple hoodie was seen being arrested and later in handcuffs being bundled into a police station, followed by other suspects.
"The person who dropped the bomb was detained by our General Directorate of Security," Soylu told .
The suspect entered Turkey illegally through the Syrian border town of Afrin and would have fled to neighbouring Greece if she had not been detained, the authorities said.
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The PKK later denied it had any involvement in the bombing.
The Istanbul Police Department said videos from some 1,200 security cameras were reviewed and raids were carried out at 21 locations.
TV news showed images of a person, who appeared to be a woman, leaving a package below a raised flower bed on the historic street, a popular spot for shoppers and tourists.
CCTV images reportedly showed a woman sitting on a bench for 45 minutes and leaving behind a bag shortly before the explosion.
Hundreds of people fled the avenue after the blast on Sunday, as ambulances and police raced in.
Survivor Massimo D’Angelo, 30, recalled the moment the bomb went off.
"I was with my colleagues and classmates, we had been to a museum and decided to go get a coffee," the Italian, who's studying at Loughborough University,
"We were walking from Taksim Square to Galata and had to cross Istiklal.
“Suddenly we heard boom, boom and then it went silent. I think everyone took a few seconds to figure out what was going on. I thought is this a mass shooting?
“But then I could smell what I think was gunpowder. The smell was like something was burning but it was really strange, I really remember the smell."
Among those who died were Yusuf Meydan - who worked for Turkey's ministry of family and social services - and his young daughter Ecrin.
The department's minister, Derya Yanik, said: "I curse this treacherous attack that killed a father and his daughter.
"As the state, we stand by the families of our brothers and sisters who lost their lives and with our wounded people with all our means.
"No evil focus will be able to disrupt our unity and solidarity."
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said those responsible would be punished.
Before boarding a plan to the G20 summit, he told reporters he condemned the "vile attack" which had "the smell of terror".
He added: "Our people can rest assured that the culprits behind the attack will be punished as they deserve."
He also said initial information suggested "a woman played a part" in it.
'Running in panic'
Pictures from the scene showed bodies strewn across the shopping street, which is popular with tourists and families.
Video showed a fireball erupting over the busy street and a loud bang before crowds streamed into nearby Taksim Square.
An overturned buggy could be seen in the street in the aftermath of the blast.
Eyewitness Cemal Denizci said: "People were running in panic... There was black smoke. The noise was so strong, almost deafening."
Terrifying CCTV footage also captured the moment the blast went off beside a bench. which appeared to have a bag on it.
Turkey's justice minister Bekir Bozdag told A Haber television: "A woman had been sitting on one of the benches for more than 40 minutes and then she got up.
"One or two minutes later, an explosion occurred.
"There are two possibilities. There's either a mechanism placed in this bag and it explodes, or someone remotely explodes (it)".
He added: ";All data on this woman are currently under scrutiny."
A scheduled football match between Besiktas and Antalyaspor in Istanbul was postponed following the attack.
Turkish authorities banned all broadcasting of images and video from the explosion in the country's media.
The US condemned the attack, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying: "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Nato Ally Turkey in countering terrorism."
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a message: "We share your pain. We stand with you in the fight against terrorism".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted in Turkish: "The pain of the friendly Turkish people is our pain."
Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, ISIS and other groups, including in a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016.
The blast comes months ahead of presidential elections expected to be difficult for President Erdogan.
Taksim Square is one of the most famous public squares in Istanbul and has been the scene of a number of important events during Turkey's recent history.
In 1977, right-wing extremists opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing 37.
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The square also saw mass demonstrations against the Turkish government in 2013.
The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Islamic State group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.
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