Turkey arrests man over Istanbul blasts

Turkish authorities have arrested a suspect in last month's Istanbul bomb blasts after 12 bags of a substance used for making…

Turkish authorities have arrested a suspect in last month's Istanbul bomb blasts after 12 bags of a substance used for making explosives were found at his home.

The Anatolian state news agency said the man, named as Mehmet Kus, was charged with "aiding and abetting an illegal organisation" - an apparent reference to the shadowy Turkish Islamist group believed to have carried out the attacks.

It said Kus had blamed a relative for storing the potassium nitrate, a substance used in the Istanbul blasts, in his house.

Sixty one people were killed and many hundreds wounded in twin attacks on two Jewish synagogues by suicide truck bombers on November 15 and in similarly synchronised attacks on British targets on November 20.

READ MORE

Turkish state security courts have now arrested more than 30 people over the blasts and police have questioned more than 150.

NTV television said Kus was among 20 people rounded up by police in Istanbul and the central Turkish city of Konya after a tipoff from another man already under arrest.

Police were not immediately able to confirm the reports.