“We mourn with families of the lost, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery”.
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“These repeated acts of terrorism in Turkey must come to an end”, Price said.
It was the sixth suicide bombing in Turkey in the past year.
A delegation of Israeli medical and emergency workers returned from Turkey on Sunday morning with Israeli citizens who were wounded in a deadly suicide bombing Saturday in Istanbul. “We harshly condemn this heinous attack against innocent civilians”, it said.
Meanwhile Iran announced that a group of its citizens was injured as well, and an Iranian man was believed to be among the dead. He said Israel was trying to determine whether Israelis were targeted, but there was no indication that was the case so far.
Reports say a broadcast ban has been imposed on Turkish media reporting anything other than official accounts of the bombing, in line with restrictions brought in by President Erdogan’s government.
The Israelis’ bodies and other Israelis wounded in the blast were being evacuated while a senior Israeli foreign ministry official to arrive in Istanbul for meetings with Turkish officials.
The ministry has updated its travel advisory for the area, saying there is a “significant threat of terrorism”.
“After visiting wounded Israeli citizens in hospital, Gold will meet with high-level Turkish officials, sources said, without specifying with whom the Israeli diplomat will hold talks”, Hurriyet said.
Eli Bin, the head of Israel’s rescue service MDA, told Channel 2 TV on Saturday: “There is one Israeli killed whose family has been notified”.
At least 36 people were injured in the attack including twelve foreign nationals.
Istanbul’s crucial tourism industry has already been damaged since an alleged ISIS suicide bomber hit the historic Sultan Ahmet district in January, causing cruise shops to cancel ports of call to the city.
The Turkish military has said that its air force carried out strikes against PKK bases in northern Iraq on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday – before the Istanbul bombing.
Ala said Turkey was determined to press ahead with its fight against terror groups but admitted it was hard to prevent suicide attacks. He said Ozturk was not on any list of wanted suspects and five other people were detained as part of the investigation. That attack was claimed by Kurdish rebels.
An explosion has torn through the centre of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul. Seven of those injured are reportedly in critical condition.
Skin, the lead singer of English band Skunk Anansie, was inside a hotel near where the explosion occurred and said she was left “very shaken” after the building “shook like paper”.
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The explosion follows two recent suicide bomb attacks in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, which were claimed by Kuridsh militant group TAK.
