Eleven people have been killed and 36 injured in a bomb attack targeting a police vehicle in central Istanbul, the Turkish city’s governor has said.
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| Fire engines beside the Turkish police bus that was targeted in a bomb attack in the Beyazit district of central Istanbul. |
The blast occurred at a busy junction in the Beyazit district, near an Istanbul University building, and was caused by a bomb placed inside a car that was detonated as the police vehicle passed by, Vasip Şahin said.
Seven of the dead were police officers, and three of the injured were in a critical condition, he added.
The police bus was overturned by the force of the blast, which also damaged nearby buildings and cars. A hotel’s entrance appeared gutted and windows had been blown out.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and Şahin would not comment on who may have been behind the attack. Authorities imposed a news blackout preventing media from reporting details of the investigation.
Cevher, a shopkeeper, told Reuters that the blast was strong enough to topple all the goods from the shelves of his store. “There was a loud bang, we thought it was lightning but right at that second the windows of the shop came down,” he said. “It was extremely scary.”
Mustafa Celik, 51, who owns a tourism agency in a backstreet near the blast site, likened the impact of the explosion to an earthquake. “We were told that it was police trying to keep people away from the blast scene,” he said. “I felt the pressure as if the ground beneath me moved. I’ve never felt anything this powerful before.”
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Turkey would press ahead with its fight against terrorism. He told reporters: “These [attacks] are being carried out against people whose duty it is to ensure the security of our people. These cannot be pardoned or forgiven. We shall continue our fight against terrorists tirelessly until the end.”
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the foreign minister, condemned the attack, which occurred on the second day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. “They [the attackers] are cold-heartedly exploding bombs on a Ramadan day,” he said in a television interview.
The country has been on a high security alert after two deadly attacks in Istanbul this year blamed on Islamic State jihadis, and twin attacks in Ankara that killed dozens and were claimed by Kurdish militants.
The Ankara attacks were claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK). PKK rebels have been targeting police and military targets since July when a fragile peace process collapsed.
The PKK is fighting for autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds in the south-east of the country. It has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives. The group is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its allies.
guardian
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