Turkiye detains 2013 bombing suspect inside Syria

Turkiye’s intelligence agency conducted a cross-border operation inside Syria and seized a man suspected of perpetrating a 2013 bomb attack near the Syrian border that killed dozens of people, a Turkish security source said on Monday (January 13, 2025).

Twin car bombs ripped through the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay province on May 11, 2013, killing 53 people. At the time, Turkiye accused a group loyal to Syria’s then-President Bashar al-Assad of carrying out the attacks. Damascus denied any involvement.

“Turkiye’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT) found out that Muhammed Dib Korali, who was suspected of planning the attack and providing the bombs, was inside Syria,” the source said. “The MIT captured him in a cross-border operation into Syria and handed him over to Hatay police,” the source added.

Yusuf Nazik, a Turkish national who was sentenced to life in prison for planning the 2013 bomb attack, was also seized inside Syria by the MIT in 2018.