On 12 January 2016, a suicide attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district killed 13 people, all foreigners, and injured 14 others.

The last major attack on Sultanahmet Square occurred on 6 January 2015, when a suicide bomber detonated herself at a police station.

[2] It was later revealed that the suicide bomber was Diana Ramazanova (Russian: Диана Рамазова), a national of Dagestan origin with links to ISIL.

[6] The blast struck at 10:20 a.m. local time (08:20 UTC) at a park that is home to the landmark Obelisk of Theodosius,[7] when the bomber walked up to a tour group standing in Sultanahmet Square and blew himself up.

[15][16][17][18][19] The Guardian reported that "the bombing happened close to the German built fountain next to the plaza between the mosques of Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmet.

According to reports, Fadli was "a regular foot soldier" in ISIL and his brother committed a suicide bombing at an airport several months earlier.

[21][22] Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said firstly that the perpetrator of the attack was a 28-year-old Syrian man who was affiliated with ISIL.