More than 35 other people were injured in the attack, seven in a serious condition. Dogan news agency says at least three of the injured are Israeli nationals.
Advertisement
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
‘It was one loud explosion, ‘ said Muhammed Fatur, a Syrian who works at a nearby butcher shop.
The victims were named as Israelis Simha Siman Demri, 60, Yonathan Suher, 40, Avraham Goldman, 70, and Iranian national Ali Riza Khalman, 31, the CNN-Turk broadcaster said.
No-one has admitted carrying out the attack, the latest to target Turkey in recent months.
When asked if he was in contact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister said he was not. The assailant died in the attack, which is the fourth apparent suicide bombing to hit Turkey this year. Police helicopters buzzed overhead and panicked shoppers fled the area, ducking down narrow side streets. Her husband was wounded in the attack, according to reports.
Armed police have sealed off the street where 6 ambulances gathered to tend to the injured.
The suspected suicide bomber is believed to be among those killed.
Officials earlier said they believed the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was behind the attack, but now say new evidence suggests it have been the work of either the PKK or Islamic State. “NATO Allies stand with Turkey, united in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms”.
Turkey had heightened security in Ankara and Istanbul in the run-up to the Kurdish spring festival on March 21.
In February, 28 were killed when a military convoy was targeted, also in Ankara.
World leaders from around the globe have expressed their outrage at yet another terrorist attack in Turkey, this time on Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Street, which has left at least five people, including the bomber dead.
The German consulate and German School in Istanbul recently closed following rumors of bomb threats, prompting criticism from Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin.
Turkey is a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Advertisement
During a two-year peace process between the government and the PKK that collapsed last year, Newroz became a public holiday as part of pro-Kurdish reforms. Since then, the country’s security forces have launched large-scale operations against Kurdish militants in several southeast cities and towns, which have raised human rights concerns amid scores of civilian deaths.
