ISIS claims responsibility for church attack in Istanbul

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack on Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul's Sariyer district.

News Center- ISIS has claimed responsibility for the armed attacks on Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul’s Sariyer district killing one person. The statement released by ISIS on Telegram said that the attack was in response to a call by the group's leaders to target Jews and Christians.

ISIS also shared the photographs of two masked gunmen, who carried out the attack on Sunday. Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media platform X that two suspects were captured.

“Two murder suspects who caused the death of our citizen Tuncer Cihan during Sunday service at the Santa Maria Church in Sariyer this morning have been captured,” said his post.

What happened?

On January 28, two masked gunmen entered the Italian Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul’s Sariyer district during Sunday service and shot dead a person identified as Tuncer Cihan.