Republished September 30, 2017 - 7:18 AM
Original Publication Date September 30, 2017 - 5:11 AM
ISTANBUL - Turkish police have detained two suspects in connection with the slayings of a prominent Syrian activist and her U.S.-born daughter, the country's official news agency said Saturday.
Arouba Barakat, 60, and her 23-year-old daughter, Halla, were stabbed in their Istanbul home last week. Halla Barakat worked as a journalist for the opposition's Orient news.
Anadolu news agency reported that security cameras led police to a Syrian citizen in the western province of Bursa. The main suspect is allegedly the grandson of Arouba Barakat's uncle. Anadolu said police also detained the suspect's former roommate, another Syrian.
According to the agency, police inspected over 100 hours of footage and found that the main suspect travelled from Bursa to Istanbul on Sept. 19 by boat and took public transportation to the district where the victims lived. He returned to Bursa the following day.
Police are now investigating his shoes to match a print found at the scene of the double homicide.
The slayings shook the Syrian opposition community and prompted U.S. State Department condemnation.
Arouba Barakat's sister, Shaza, told The Associated Press that her family had been critical of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and suggested it might have been behind the killings.
There have been four previous killings of Syrian journalists in Turkey, which the Islamic State group has claimed. A fifth journalist survived two attacks.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017