However, the terrorist group has not claimed responsibility for the attack. “Germany and Turkey are coming even closer to each other”, he said.
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Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported that at least six Germans, one Norwegian and one Peruvian were among the wounded. It was not densely packed at the time, a police officer said, but small groups of tourists had been wandering around.
Police cordon off Sultanahmet Square after an explosion here in Istanbul, Turkey, January 12, 2016.
Ten people died in the blast, and a further 15 were injured, many of them also German.
The raids were launched after a suicide bombing in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district.
Turkish authorities identified the bomber as a Syrian born in 1988, who had recently entered Turkey and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄlu says those responsible will be punished.
The Sultanahmet neighborhood is Istanbul’s main sightseeing area and includes the Topkapi Palace and the Haghia Sophia museum.
Office worker Erdem Koroglu told NTV television he saw several people lying on the ground. “Unfortunately, we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals”, Erdogan said in a televised address on Turkey’s NTV television station. “Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion”.
Turkey has been on high alert after a series of attacks blamed on the Daesh including a double suicide bombing in October in Ankara that killed 103 people.
The attack at the heart of one of the world’s most visited cities comes as Turkey battles Kurdish militants in its southeast and Islamic State insurgents just across its southern borders in Syria and Iraq.
“I am deeply shaken by yesterday’s barbaric attack”, de Maiziere said, calling it “an attack against humanity”.
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President Erdogan says the country, which joined the global coalition against the Islamists last summer, was the top target for all terrorist groups in the region. They said the European Union and Turkey stand united “against all forms of terrorism” and that they must increase their efforts in this regard while respecting the obligations of worldwide law, human rights, and humanitarian law.
