Paramedics carry a dead body after an explosion near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul, Turkey, January 12, 2016.
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Nations around the world have begun to rally behind Turkey in the wake of Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed 10 people.
Thanks to its proximity to Syria, Turkey has had to deal with a fair number of the long conflict’s unfortunate effects – including violence, a rush of migrants, and also people trying to travel to the war-torn country to join ISIS. The other tourist who died was Peruvian, according to news agencies. However, the freedom will defeat terror, said the head of the Government.
Pick a side. You are either on the side of the Turkish government, or you’re on the side of the terrorists.
The Islamic State did not claim responsibility for that attack, but a suicide bomber who killed more than 30 people in Suruç, Turkey in July had ties to the militant group, The New York Times reports.
The Turkish military said Sunday that a total of 448 PKK militants had been killed in counter-terrorism operations in southeastern Turkey, where tensions have been running high, since mid-December. An exact breakdown was not immediately available, but the Istanbul governor’s office, on its website, said the blast killed 10 people and wounded 15 others.
Erdogan added that Turkey is “fighting against all of them equally”.
Sultanahmet is Istanbul’s top tourist spot, boasting the Topkapi Palace and the former Byzantine church of Haghia Sophia, which is now a museum.
Investigations are being conducted into the type of explosive which caused the blast and those responsible.
Sources from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said the majority of victims in the attack were German tourists. Six Germans are also reported to be among the wounded.
German chancellor Angela Merkel called an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening to analyse the consequences of the latest terrorist attacks which varied their target but followed the same goal: to undermine “free lives in free societies”.
“Today Istanbul was hit, Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before”, she said. “Worldwide terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face”.
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It wasn’t clear if the attacker had specifically targeted Germans.
