Six killed, dozens injured in Turkey blast

At least six people were killed and 81 others injured when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called the explosion a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism” and said its perpetrators would be punished.

Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul that the “efforts to defeat Turkey and the Turkish people through terrorism will fail today just as they did yesterday and as they will tomorrow.”

“Our people can rest assured that the culprits behind the attack will be punished as they deserve,” he said, adding that initial information suggested “a woman played a part” in it.

“It would be wrong to say this is undoubtedly a terrorist attack but the initial developments and initial intelligence from my governor is that it smells like terrorism,” he added.

Ambulances raced to the scene on the packed Istiklal Avenue, which police had quickly cordoned off. The area, in the Beyoglu district of Turkey’s largest city, had been crowded as usual at the weekend with shoppers, tourists and families.

Some four hours after the blast, Vice President Fuat Oktay and Interior Minster Suleyman Soylu visited the site of the explosion.

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Oktay said the number of injured was 81 and re-iterated six people died in the explosion.

“We will resolve this matter very soon. We are evaluating it as an act of terror”. Oktay told reporters.

If confirmed, it would be the first major bomb blast in Istanbul in several years.

Condemnations

Condemnations of the attack and condolences for the victims rolled in from several countries including Greece, Egypt, Ukraine, Britain, Azerbaijan, Italy and Pakistan.

On Twitter, European Council President Charles Michel sent condolences to victims after the “horrific news”.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast. Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and other groups, including in a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016.

Twin bombings outside an Istanbul soccer stadium in December 2016 killed 38 people and wounded 155 in an attack claimed by an offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Zainab Sa’id