A auto bomb has struck a police vehicle in Istanbul during rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 others in what marks the fourth bombing to hit the Turkish city this year.
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The remote-controlled bomb exploded as a service shuttle carrying police officers was passing in the Beyazit district of Istanbul, the TRT reported.
“The blast occurred at a busy junction in the Beyazit district, near an Istanbul University building, and was caused by a bomb placed inside a auto that was detonated as the police vehicle passed by”, Vasip Şahin was quoted as saying by the report. “The blast also shattered windows at a famous 16th-century Ottoman mosque, Sehzadebasi, wrecked several cars and forced the cancellation of some exams at nearby Istanbul University”.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, the AP says.
Recent Istanbul attacks have targeted security forces and tourism sites, contributing to a sharp dip in tourism and taking a toll on the economy.
Ambulances were on the scene and have taken the wounded to nearby hospitals, according to state news agency Anadolu.
“This is the third bomb attack in Istanbul this year”, Dalia reports.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences and told journalists that he had visited the wounded.
U.S. Ambassador John Bass condemned the “heinous attack”, saying his country continues to “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism”.
Limited access to conflict areas in the southeast has made it hard to verify casualty figures. “We will continue our fight against terrorism fearlessly”, he said.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have been targeting police and military targets since July, when a fragile peace process collapsed.
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Turkey, a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the US-led anti-jihadist coalition, appears to have stepped up its operations against Islamic State in northern Syria, where the jihadists control areas near the border, which some analysts say has made it more vulnerable to attack. One key Kurdish force, the YPG, is identified as a terrorist group by Turkey, but an ally by the U.S.
