JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) utterly condemned an explosion on Istiklal Caddesi street in Istanbul, Turkey, on 19 March 2016 in which 5 people were killed and 36 others were injured.

Turkey on Sunday named the bomber behind the attack as a Turk with links to Daesh. Interior Minister Efken Ala identified the alleged perpetrator of the attack as Mehmet Ozturk from Gaziantep, on the border with Syria.

The OIC Secretary General, Iyad Madani, expressed his deep dismay about the recurrence of these kinds of terrorist acts in Turkey and of the threat to security and stability of the Turkish people by criminal groups seeking to derail the important and advanced steps taken by Turkey in development and ensuring the progress and prosperity of its people.

Ozturk, who was born in 1992 and travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2015, had been sought by police over his alleged links to an IS cell in Turkey, Hurriyet newspaper reported.