Istanbul bombs kill 15 and wound 140 on eve of political case
Bombs killed 15 people and wounded around 140 in Istanbul late on Sunday, just hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.
Officials said one loud blast brought people into the streets of a busy shopping and eating area, then a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded 10 minutes and 50 meters away, tearing through the crowds.
"This is a terror attack," city governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene, in a pedestrianized street where families gather in the evenings to dine, sip tea and stroll, well away from the city's tourist sites.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest attack in Turkey since 2003.
Television showed ambulances taking away the wounded in the middle-class Gungoren district of Turkey's biggest city, near the main airport. Among the rubble and glass of broken shop windows, men carried away the wounded and children cried.
"First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container," Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told reporters.
One witness said: "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms, were flying in the air."
"I condemn those who carried out this bombing, which shows us terrorism's inhumane desire for cruelty and violence without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children," President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.
Officials said one loud blast brought people into the streets of a busy shopping and eating area, then a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded 10 minutes and 50 meters away, tearing through the crowds.
"This is a terror attack," city governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene, in a pedestrianized street where families gather in the evenings to dine, sip tea and stroll, well away from the city's tourist sites.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest attack in Turkey since 2003.
Television showed ambulances taking away the wounded in the middle-class Gungoren district of Turkey's biggest city, near the main airport. Among the rubble and glass of broken shop windows, men carried away the wounded and children cried.
"First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container," Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told reporters.
One witness said: "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms, were flying in the air."
"I condemn those who carried out this bombing, which shows us terrorism's inhumane desire for cruelty and violence without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children," President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.
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- pigmonkey
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The Way to prove that the banning of a party is wrong is by bombing people? Seems counter productive to the cause to me.
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- bansheewail
- 1 year ago
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Let's see how Muslims kill each others.
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Ruling to ban the AKP would be disastrous on so many levels. It would affect our attempts in advocating democracy. It would affect the budding peace talks between Israel and Syria, administered by the legitimized Turkish authorities. It would affect Turkey's desire to be included in the EU. It would affect the Turkish citizens who have witnessed too many coups in the name of secularism. I just don't see any good coming from banning the prime minister's party, even if in the name of secularism, something I hold close and dear to my heart.
