Security presence thwarts attack on media house in Istanbul - report

A plan to carry out a suicide attack on a media house in Istanbul was not carried out due to the presence of a police patrol car outside the building, a Daily Sabah report cited a captured member of the PKK terror group.

The confession of Ihsan Koceroglu came as part of a testimony seeking a reduced sentence and the PKK member, along with seven others, will face an indictment on terror charges, the report added. 

Koceroglu told prosecutors he was scouting the Turkuvaz Medya building, which houses the Daily Sabah offices, in Istanbul's Besiktas district,  when he noticed the presence of security personnel.

The police patrol car and two security guards prompted him and his seniors to cancel the plans since carrying out the attack would've been difficult and would not have yielded the desired number of casualties, the PKK member said.

Prosecutors believe that Koceroglu had received instructions from the same "cell" that was behind the double bombing of the Besiktas stadium in December 2016. The twin blasts targeting security personnel at a football match killed at least 44 people.

The attack on the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul's Besiktas was claimed by PKK's TAK affiliate.

TAK is the urban offshoot of the PKK, a group which has been waging a terror campaign against Turkey since 1984, claiming more than 40,000 lives. 

The PKK and its offshoots are listed as terrorist organisations by the European Union, the United States, and Turkey.