Paramedics carry a dead body after an explosion near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul, Turkey, January 12, 2016.
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A Syrian suicide bomber is thought to have been responsible for an explosion in the heart of Istanbul’s historic tourist district on Tuesday which killed 10 people including Turks and foreigners, President Tayyip Erdogan said.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber’s remains were used to identify him as a Syrian national born in 1988. Malaysia has strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Istanbul yesterday that claimed at least 10 lives and injured 15 other people.
The explosion, which was heard across several neighbourhoods, was at a public park that is home to a landmark obelisk, about 25 metres from the Blue Mosque. He did not provide further details.
German leader Angela Merkel confirmed eight of the victims are German tourists but officials have not confirmed if any Britons were injured or killed.
Germany has taken a noncombat role in the global military effort against the Islamic State group, stationing reconnaissance planes at an air base in Turkey.
The latest on the investigation into the explosion in the historic center of Istanbul.
Personal travel advisor Jenny Jackson said she had also noted that customers seemed to be actively staying away from both Turkey and Egypt’s red sea resorts.
He said: “It was hard to say who was alive or dead”.
Six German tourists, a Norwegian and a Peruvian were wounded in the attack. “Turkey’s determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end”.
A police officer at the scene said the square was not densely packed at the time of the blast, but that small groups of tourists were wandering around.
A short while later, Russia’s consul-general in Antalya, Alexander Tolstopyatenko, told Russian news wire RIA Nostovi: “We confirm the detention of three Russian citizens”.
The authorities blamed three major suicide attacks past year on the Islamic State extremist group, which controls territory in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
Kursat Yilmaz, who has operated tours for 25 years from an office by the square, said he believed Sultanahmet was attacked to “grab attention because this is what the world thinks of when it thinks of Turkey”.
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Tensions between Russia and Turkey have been high after Ankara shot down a Russian fighter jet close to the Turkey-Syria border in November.
