Istanbul, Apr. 26, (dpa/GNA) – A Turkish court on Friday handed down multiple life sentences to an imprisoned woman accused of being involved in a 2022 bomb attack that killed six people in central Istanbul, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

The attacker, identified as a Syrian national, was handed seven aggravated life sentences for “deliberate murder by bombing” and “disrupting unity of the state,” Anadolu said.

She was separately sentenced to 1,794 years in jail for unauthorized possession of hazardous material and attempted murder, it added.

The defendant refused to make a defence, the report said.

Aggravated life sentences are the most severe possible since Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002, as they offer no chance for parole.

A total of 36 suspects have been on trial in the case.

A bomb was planted in November 2022 on Istanbul’s popular pedestrian Istiklal Avenue, that also left 99 injured.

Authorities said the attacker had admitted to having links to the Syrian Kurdish militia the People’s Defence Units (YPG) and having entered Turkey illegally via Syria.

Turkey considers the YPG are an affiliate of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group labelled as terrorist by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

GNA