Burqa-clad Turkish 'suicide bomber' turns out to be lover in disguise

Locals alerted police after noticing that a burqa-clad 'woman' talking on the phone was wearing men's shoes

ISTANBUL: A Turkish man detained as a suspected would-be suicide bomber in northern Turkey was actually wearing a burqa to disguise himself to meet a secret lover from a dating site, local media reported Sunday.

Locals in the Black Sea province of Ordu alerted police of a "would-be suicide bomber" on Saturday after noticing that a burqa-clad "woman" talking on the phone at a bus stop was wearing men's shoes, Dogan news agency said.



A police team arrived at the scene and "unmasked" the man, who was dressed in a full-length, Islamic-style black robe with a niqab -- the head covering worn by many Muslim women -- covering his face. Authorities detained him for "inflicting fear and panic in the public," Dogan reported.

The 33-year-old man, who is married with two children, told police that he had resorted to the burqa disguise in order to secretly meet a woman he had met on an online dating site for the first time.

 



 

Turkey is on high alert after a series of deadly attacks blamed on the Islamic State group, including a massive twin suicide bombing at a peace rally in Ankara on October 10 that killed 102 people in the worst-ever terror attack in Turkey's history.