Türkiye catches suspected bomber of 2013 attack in Syria

Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has captured Temir Dükancı, one of the perpetrators of the 2013 terror attack in the southern Hatay province.

Dükancı was among the planners of the terrorist attack in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district and organized the transport of explosives used in the attack into Türkiye by sea.

According to security forces, MIT discovered Dükancı as he was about to flee Syria for Lebanon and captured him on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Dükancı was searching for a fake passport to enter Lebanon and planned to assemble fellow terrorists there to attack Türkiye’s diplomatic missions.

The terrorist, wanted in the orange category, was brought to Türkiye following the operation and handed to the Hatay provincial police department, security sources said.

In similar operations in Syria, MIT captured the two other perpetrators of the attack, Yusuf Nazik in 2018 and Mohammed Dib Korali, in January 2025. Mehmet Gezer, the terrorist who ordered the deadly attack, was arrested in 2022 after being extradited from the United States.

In February 2018, an Ankara court sentenced nine people to multiple aggravated life sentences for the attack while issuing 10 to 15 years in jail for 13 others.

The Reyhanlı bombing on May 11, 2013, had a significantly high death toll as a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated in the town center first, killing scores and causing destruction. A second vehicle was detonated five minutes after the first, when dozens, including civilians, first-aid units and security forces, rushed to the area to help those who were wounded in the attack. In addition to killing 53 people and injuring dozens of others, the attack devastated the district, damaging 912 houses, 891 businesses and 148 vehicles.

Turkish officials blamed the Assad regime and the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate, also known as Mukhabarat, for the attack.

Experts also said that the predominantly Sunni Arab and Turkmen town was specifically targeted by the Syrian regime to emblaze tensions with Türkiye’s Alawite community in the neighboring districts of Hatay province, which has long been claimed by Syria.

Alawites were the dominant group in the Assad regime and the Syrian Baath Party until their toppling last month, where Türkiye supported the opposition after the civil war broke out.