DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
A court in southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakir province has ordered the arrest of a suspect for alleged involvement in an attack on a pre-election rally of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Diyarbakir chief public prosecutor said Wednesday.
The suspect, identified only with his initials O.G., was already under detention since Sunday.
“O.G. was placed under arrest for murder and being a member of a terror organization by Diyarbakir’s vacation court,” Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor Ramazan Solmaz said.
Two people died in the immediate aftermath of Friday afternoon’s twin blasts at the HDP rally in Diyarbakir, while a third victim died last weekend. More than 100 were also injured in the incident.
The attack in Diyarbakir came two days before Turks went to the polls in a general election where the pro-Kurdish HDP party passed the 10 percent threshold to enter the Turkish parliament for the first time.
The run-up to Turkey’s general election had been marred by violence with bombings, shootings, knife attacks and clashes between rival supporters and police hitting the headlines.
