ISTANBUL/ANKARA – Five people including a suicide bomber were killed and 36 wounded in an attack on a major shopping and tourist district in central Istanbul on Saturday, in the fourth suicide bombing to hit Turkey this year.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on part of Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian street lined with global shops and foreign consulates, a few hundred meters from an area where police buses are often parked.
One of the official said the bomber had planned to hit a more crowded spot.
“The attacker detonated the bomb before reaching the targeted point because they were scared of the police,” the official said, declining to be named because the investigation is ongoing.
Armed police sealed off the shopping street where half a dozen ambulances had gathered. Forensic teams in white suits scoured the area for evidence. Police helicopters buzzed overhead and panicked shoppers fled the area, ducking down narrow sidestreets.
Istiklal Street, usually thronged with shoppers on weekends, was quieter than normal before the blast as more people are staying home after a series of deadly bombings.
Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu confirmed that 36 people had been wounded and seven of those were in serious condition. Twelve of the wounded were foreigners, he said.
Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed some of its citizens were among the wounded.
Broadcaster NTV said six of the wounded were Israeli tourists and two others were from Iceland.
“We as a nation are unfortunately now face to face with a situation of unlimited, immeasurable acts that are inhumane, defy human values and are treacherous,” Muezzinoglu said.
DEADLY BOMBINGS
A suicide car bombing in the capital Ankara killed 37 people this month. A similar bombing in Ankara last month killed 29 people. A Kurdish militant group has claimed responsibility for both of those bombings.
In January, a suicide bomber killed around 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart, an attack the government blamed on Islamic State.
The attack brought swift condemnation from around the globe.
France condemned the attack as “despicable and cowardly”.
Germany, which this week shut its embassy, consulate and schools in Ankara and Istanbul over security fears, urged tourists in Istanbul to stay in their hotels.
Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a Kurdish-rooted opposition party, condemned the bombing.
“Just as in the Ankara attack, this is a terrorist act that directly targets civilians,” the HDP said in an e-mailed statement. “Whoever carried out this attack, it is unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Source:  REUTERS, 19  March 2016