A Syrian suicide bomber is believed to have carried out the deadly attack on a historic central square in Istanbul that killed at least 10 people and injured 15 more, including foreign tourists, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
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A senior Turkish government official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press at least nine of the victims are German nationals.
At least ten people were killed and fifteen others injured in a suicide blast in a tourist area of Istanbul on Tuesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing that hit Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet Square, calling it a “despicable crime”, Xinhua reported.
NTV television said the explosion happened near a park which is home to a landmark obelisk. “We ran out and saw body parts”, one woman who works at a nearby antiques store told a Reuters correspondent, declining to give her name.
Turkish authorities have said a 28-year-old Syrian national carried out the attack in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, a main tourist hub.
It has been almost a year since the last major terrorist attacked in Istanbul, in which a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a tourist police station not far from the same square.
Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Syria’s uprising since it erupted in 2011, and hosts more than one million refugees from the neighbouring country. “Travelers to Istanbul are strongly advised to avoid crowded public places and tourist attractions and to stay abreast of this travel advice and situation developments through the media”, the ministry’s travel notice reads.
“We extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones and pray for the speediest recovery of the injured”, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Police sealed off the Sultanahmet area, barring people from approaching in case of a second explosion, and a police helicopter hovered overhead. “Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion”.
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Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to convene a security meeting in Ankara. Turkish officials identified the suicide bomber as a Syrian man born in 1988, according to the BBC. The country has only reluctantly begun to take the fight against ISIS seriously after a number of attacks including a massacre that killed 32 youth activists in the border city of Suruc last summer.
