Bodies of Israeli victims of Istanbul attack sent home

3/21/2016 9:21:32 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The bodies of three Israeli citizens who lost their lives in Saturday's suicide bomb attack on Istanbul's Istiklal Street were sent to Israel on Sunday.

FiveIsraeli citizens injured by the blast also flew on the same plane.

The blast killed five people including the suicide bomber and injured 39 others. Out of the total injured 24 are foreigners Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said.

The Israeli victims have been identified by the Israeli Foreign Ministryas Simha Dimri 60 Yonatan Suher 40 and Avraham Goldman 69.

According to the White House and the Israeli Foreign Ministry two of the Israeli victims were dual U.S.-Israeli citizens.

An Iranian Ali Reza Khalman 31 is among the dead according to Turkish police.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sent messages of condolences to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri over the deaths of their citizens.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for his part condemned the bombing at a Sunday press briefing.

"The key to the moral fight against terrorism is to make it clear that terrorism the murder of innocents has no justification anywhere -- not in Istanbul or the Ivory Coast or Jerusalem" he said.

On Sunday DNA tests identified the suicide bomber as Mehmet Ozturk 24 a Turkish national born in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala said Ozturk was a suspected member of Daesh.

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