MIT captures final suspect in 2013 Reyhanli bombings

Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization has apprehended the final suspect wanted in connection with the 2013 Reyhanli bombings, security sources said, bringing to a close a years-long manhunt for those responsible for the twin attacks that claimed 53 lives in Hatay province.

Red category suspect captured at border

Mihrac Ural — listed in the "red category" of Türkiye's wanted terrorists — was captured near the Syrian border while attempting to flee abroad in a joint operation conducted by MIT and Syria's General Intelligence Service, according to security sources. Ural was the fifth and final key suspect to be apprehended in the coordinated campaign targeting organizers and planners of the 2013 attack.

Chronology of cross-border operations

The process of apprehending those responsible began with the capture of Yusuf Nazik, one of the organizers, in an MIT operation in Latakia, Syria, on Sept. 12, 2018. About six years later, Muhammed Dib Korali, who was reportedly involved in supplying the bombs, was apprehended in Syria on Jan. 14, 2025, and brought to Türkiye, followed by the capture of Temir Dukanci — listed in the "orange category" — along the Syria-Lebanon border.

Omer al-Khatib, who was wanted under a "red notice," was captured by MIT on Oct. 1 while attempting to flee to Europe by sea, with Ural's recent apprehension completing the set of operations. On May 11, 2013, 53 people were killed and many civilians injured in two separate bomb attacks in the Reyhanli district of southern Hatay Province.