Trial over deadly Istanbul bombing begins in Turkey

ISTANBUL (AP) — The trial has begun of 36 people accused of a deadly bombing in central Istanbul last November, in which six people were killed and 99 injured, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported. Fifteen of the defendants were in court in Istanbul Tuesday, including the alleged bomber, Ahlam Albashir. If convicted, she faces up to seven life sentences. She was allowed to postpone her defense until the next hearing because the indictment was not read to her in her native Arabic. The indictment claims the attack was the work of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia group. Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency within Turkey.