NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey and added: “I firmly condemn this morning’s terrorist attack targeting a police vehicle in Istanbul, which killed a number of people, including police officers, and injured many others”.
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Emre Rende, a freelance journalist reporting from Istanbul, said the “bus was targeted by a remotely detonated auto bomb before a second blast believed to have been caused by a gas canister”.
The police bus was flipped over by the force of the blast, which also damaged nearby buildings, among them a closed hotel where the entrance appeared gutted and windows were blown out.
A radical splinter group of the PKK, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for two bombings in Ankara earlier this year that killed dozens of people.
Last month, at least eight people including soldiers were wounded by a remotely-detonated auto bomb targeting a military vehicle in Istanbul that was claimed by the PKK.
The city’s governor, Vasip Sahin, said the bomb had been placed inside of a auto and exploded when the police vehicle passed nearby.
The suspects were taken to the city’s police headquarters for interrogation, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. “We shall continue our fight against terrorists tirelessly until the end”, he told reporters outside the hospital.
Istanbul has already suffered two attacks at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) this year. No group has yet claimed credit of the bombing and investigation was ongoing.
An estimated 500 Turkish security personnel have been killed in attacks or in conflict with the Kurdish rebels, according to the military, which claims to have killed 4,900 PKK militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
Reports said the explosion took place close to the Vezeciler metro station, which is within walking distance of some of the main sights of the historical centre including the Suleymaniye Mosque.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences and visited some of the injured in the hospital.
Including today’s attack, at least 226 people have been killed in bombings in the cities of Istanbul and Ankara, making it the bloodiest year in recent history.
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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who assumed office last month, condemned the attackers for killing innocents during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
