Istanbul suicide attack: 5 killed, several wounded in shopping hub

Carnations and candles are left at the explosion site in the city’s landmark Taksim Square, close to the scene of an explosion, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 19, 2016. (AP Photo)

A suicide attack on Istanbul’s main pedestrian shopping street Saturday killed five people, including two dual nationality Israeli-Americans and one Iranian citizen, and wounded several dozen others, in the sixth suicide bombing in Turkey in the past year.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu issued a statement saying there were several foreigners among the victims.

“Turkey has always said that terrorism has no religion, no language and no race and that terrorism has to be condemned no matter who the perpetrators are,” he said. “This sad event has shown once again how right our position is.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on the Islamic State group and on Kurdish militants who have claimed two recent attacks in the capital, Ankara. DNA samples were taken from family members of two possible Islamic State militants who could be the bomber, the private Turkish Dogan news agency reported.

The explosion ripped through Istiklal Street, a popular destination for tourists and locals in a central neighborhood that is home to cafes, restaurants, foreign consulates and a government office. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said there were five fatalities and that investigations were still under way. An interior ministry official said the death toll included the suicide bomber.

Police swiftly sealed off the area as ambulances and a forensic team rushed to the scene after the bombing about 11 a.m. Normally packed cafes were either closed or virtually empty, with business owners making frantic calls to loved ones to assure them of their safety. Rattled tourists wondered where to go.

“It was one loud explosion,” said Muhammed Fatur, a Syrian who works at a butcher shop near the scene of the explosion. “Police came to the scene and sealed off the area.” The site remained off limits until shortly after sundown when tentative pedestrians and shopkeepers returned to inspect the damage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that at least two of the victims were Israelis. An Israeli diplomat in Istanbul said the two also held American citizenship.

“We can sadly confirm that two Israeli civilians were killed and we might have a third fatality,” he said.

Israel was cooperating with other intelligence agencies to determine whether the attack was directed at Israelis specifically. Two planes were being sent to Istanbul to evacuate others wounded in the blast.

The majority of the Israelis caught up in the attack were on a culinary tour of the city, officials said. The group had just eaten breakfast nearby when the blast ripped through the street. Israeli media named one of the victims as 60-year-old Simha Damari, a mother of four and said her husband was also wounded in the attack.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, confirmed that two American citizens were among those killed in the Istanbul attack. Their identities were not released.

Police secures the area following the suicide bombing in central Istanbul. (Reuters)

Video posted on social media apparently capturing the aftermath of the blast showed several motionless bodies lined up at the foot of shuttered shops as a second ambulance arrives at the scene. Footage filmed by a witness showed a severed male head resting next to the street’s tramway tracks a few feet away from the bodies. On Thursday, Germany had closed its embassy in Ankara, the German school in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul, which is in the same neighborhood as the blast, following a security warning. Twelve German tourists were killed in a January suicide attack in a historic district of Istanbul. Saturday’s explosion marks the sixth suicide attack in the country since July. The previous five attacks, which have killed more than 200 people, were either blamed on the Islamic State group by Turkish authorities or claimed by an off-shoot of the PKK.. The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey for three decades in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. A two-and-a- half year peace process between the government and the PKK broke down in July, reviving the conflict. Turkey, which is a partner in the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State, has also been drawn deeper into the Syrian conflict and forced to absorb 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Last August, Turkey began allowing U.S. fighter jets to launch airstrikes from Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.

(Source : indianexpress.com)

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