DNA tests performed on the remains of the suicide bomber who killed four and injured 39 in Istanbul’s Istiklal Street on Saturday, show that he had links to ISIS, Turkey’s interior minister Efkan Ala said in a press conference on Sunday. According to Ala, the evidence identified the bomber as Mehmet Öztürk, 24, who was born in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.
The Doğan News Agency reported on Sunday that DNA samples taken from the assailant’s family matched the sample taken from the bomber’s body.
Ala said that the suspect was believed to have ties with ISIS, but was never sought by police because he did not have a criminal record.
Öztürk’s family had filed a missing person’s report with police.
Turkey’s security forces have so far detained five suspects in connection with the attack, according to the minister.
Turkish media had already fingered Öztürk as one of the primary suspects in the bombing, based on leaked intelligence records that identified him as a member of ISIS.
The Turkish newspaper Karar reported earlier that Öztürk’s mobile phone signals were detected during the investigation that followed the bombing and police units searched his residence in Gaziantep, Anatolia Region, about 60 miles north of Aleppo, Syria.