Turkey remands 5 suspects over 2016 terror attack

KAYSERI, Turkey

A Turkish court on Wednesday remanded in custody five PKK suspects of a deadly 2016 terror attack in a central province of Turkey.

Among the suspects was Ferhat Tekiner, who was brought back to the country from Iraq in an operation by the Turkish intelligence, while four others who were arrested in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Tekiner, codenamed Firat/Botan, was nabbed in northern Iraq in the operation conducted by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization in cooperation with the police, according to the information obtained by Anadolu Agency.

On Dec. 17, 2016, a suicide car bomb attack hit a public bus carrying soldiers on a weekly off in the central Kayseri province, martyring 15 officers and wounding 54 others.

Tekiner was the terrorist who delivered the vehicle he stole to Kenan Cicek, codenamed Kendal/Deniz, the perpetrator of the attack.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Handan Kazanci