Turkey has been hit with a string of attacks since last summer – with citizens and tourists increasingly the target.

Back in July 2015, 34 people were killed and over 100 others got injured in a bombing near the Syrian border. Turkey blamed ISIL for the attack.

In response, Turkey began to combat extremists. At home, suspected terrorists were arrested. In Syria, Turkey took part in airstrikes against ISIL targets.

But ISIL hit back three months later, its fighters bombed an Ankara Central railway station, killing at least 102 people. 200 others got injured.

Another ISIL bomber blew himself up at the heart of Istanbul’s historic tourist district in January 2016. 10 people died there, and most of them were German tourists. The bomber was believed to have entered Turkey from Syria.

In February, a car bomb exploded near a bus stop in Ankara’s Red Crescent Square, killing 28. Separatist militant group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons or TAK claimed responsibility for it.