Bodies of Israeli victims of Istanbul attack sent home

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.

Five Israeli 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 Ministry as 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 US-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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