INTERNATIONAL

At least six people were killed and 81 wounded, including two critically, after an explosion hit Istiklal Avenue in the historic Beyoglu district in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, Vice President Fuat Oktay said.

“We consider it to be a terrorist act as a result of a female attacker, detonating the bomb,” Oktay said.

In earlier remarks on Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to reporters ahead of his departure to the G20 summit in Bali, vowed that “the perpetrators of the incident on Istiklal Street will be punished as they deserve”.

“We cannot say for sure that it is a terror attack but there is a smell of it as far as I know. There is a woman who has taken part in the incident,” he said on a live broadcast by the state-run TRT World. He denounced the incident as “a vile attack.”

In earlier remarks, Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya said the explosion took place at 4:20pm (1:20pm GMT) in Istiklal, a busy shopping and dining pedestrian street in the touristic Taksim area.

Police has closed Istiklal street due to the possibility of a second explosion, Turkish media reported.

Footage sent to Middle East Eye from the scene showed the mortally wounded bodies of one child and one man.

Other clips shared on social media showed several bodies lying on the street. The source of the explosion remains unknown.

Meanwhile, the Turkish media regulator, RTUK, has imposed a ban on sharing footage of the explosion or reports except for government statements.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) announced hours after the incident that it has reduced internet services for social media platforms across the country “[to stop the spread of] terrorist content and the images that violate the press ethics after the explosion in Taksim”.

A statement by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said it has opened a probe into the incident.

“In addition, a broadcast ban was issued by the Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace for all visual and audio news and social networking sites related to the explosion.”

Istanbul has been hit with several explosions in the past, including a suicide bombing in Istiklal street in 2016 by an alleged member of the Islamic State. In the same year, the Kurdish militant group PKK claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 38 people outside a football stadium in the Besiktas area in central Istanbul.

Source: Middle East Eye