Several killed as twin blasts rock Istanbul; 20 wounded near soccer stadium
Twenty-seven of those killed were police and two were civilians; 10 suspects have been detained over the bombings
Turkish emergency workers, police officers and forensic specialist work on site where probable car bomb exploded near stadium of football club Besiktas in central Istanbul on Saturday (AFP)
Saturday 10 December 2016
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there were several fatal casualties from twin bomb attacks that rocked the heart of Istanbul on Saturday.
"Unfortunately we have martyrs and wounded" as a result of the twin blasts, Erdogan said in a statement, one of which is believed to have been caused by a car bomb outside a football stadium and another by a suicide attack at a nearby park.
Government officials could not give a precise toll, with Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu saying earlier that at least 20 police officers were wounded after the blast outside the football stadium - following Besiktas' home game against Bursaspor.
"An act of terror targeted our security forces and citizens at Besiktas tonight," Erdogan said. Besiktas is also the name of the neighbourhood around club's arena.
Erdogan said the blasts shortly after the end of the match sought to cause maximum loss of life.
"We have witnessed once more here in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples down any form of value and morals," he said.
Erdogan said that "the name or the method of the terrorist organisation which perpetrated the vile attack" did not matter. "Nobody should doubt that we will defeat terror, terror groups, terrorists and of course the forces behind them, with God's help," he said.
Two witnesses told Reuters they had heard two blasts outside the Vodafone Arena, which lies on the edge of the Bosphorus in central Istanbul and is home to the Besiktas soccer team. A Reuters photographer said many riot police officers were seriously wounded.
"It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque," said Omer Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque.
"People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible," he told Reuters.
Armed police sealed off streets around the stadium. A police water cannon doused the wreckage of a burned-out car and there were two separate fires on the road outside the building.
Broadcaster NTV said the explosion targeted a police vehicle that was leaving the stadium after fans had already dispersed.
"I condemn the cruel terror attack in Istanbul. Those attacking our nation's unity and solidarity will never win," Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said on Twitter. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan also described it as a terrorist attack.
Turkey has been hit by a series of bombings in recent years, some blamed on Islamic State militants, others claimed by Kurdish and far-leftist militant groups.
In June, about 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded when three suspected Islamic State militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport
