2016 Bursa bombing

On 27 April 2016, at approximately 17:26 local time (UTC+3), a suicide bombing occurred in the Turkish city of Bursa near the western entrance of the Grand Mosque and an adjacent covered market. The bombing took place as a crowd that had gathered for a funeral prayer was dispersing. One person, the suicide bomber, was killed, and 13 others were injured, reportedly with only light injuries. Those hurt were struck by bomb fragments and broken glass, and extensive damage was reported to nearby shops and cafes.

Authorities identified the bomber as an approximately 25-year-old woman. Turkey's Interior Minister at the time, Efkan Ala, announced her identity as Eser Çali, born in 1992, whose family lived in a small village in Iğdır Province near the Armenian border. The location of the attack was described as an area that is always crowded, and tourist groups were reportedly present at the time. Security sources speaking to the Turkish outlet T24 suggested the bomber might have detonated the device earlier than intended.

In the aftermath, police cleared the area of people and closed off Atatürk Avenue to traffic. On social media, Turkish users reacted with the phrase "enough is enough" in response to the attack.

The bombing occurred one day after the US Embassy in Turkey issued a warning about "credible indications" of imminent terrorist attacks, urging American citizens to remain vigilant in crowded public areas and popular tourist destinations. This came amid a period in which Turkey had experienced a number of bombings in the preceding months, including the March 2016 Istanbul bombing, attributed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the March 2016 Ankara bombing, attributed to the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group described as an offshoot and affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

No immediate claim of responsibility or official announcement regarding the perpetrators was made following the Bursa attack. Turkish daily Cumhuriyet reported that security forces were investigating the possibility that ISIL was responsible. On 1 May, however, TAK claimed responsibility for the bombing.

This dossier is based on a Wikipedia article summarizing the event; two contemporaneous news sources (CTV News and Reuters) are cited by that article as references but their specific text was not available for independent verification of additional details beyond what is stated above.