Six dead in Istanbul blast, Erdogan says it ‘smells like terrorism’
ISTANBUL, Nov 13 (Balkanpress) – Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism”.
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Hours after the explosion, Vice President Fuat Oktay visited the site to give the latest death and injury toll, and promised to resolve the matter “very soon”.
Authorities later said a government ministry worker and his daughter were among the dead. Five people were in intensive care in hospital, two of them in a critical condition.
Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and other groups, including in a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016.
Efforts to defeat Turkey and the Turkish people through terrorism will fail today just as they did yesterday and as they will tomorrow,” Erdogan told a news conference before flying to Indonesia for a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies.
“Our people can rest assured that the culprits… will be punished as they deserve,” he said, adding that initial information suggested “a woman played a part” in it.
“It would be wrong to say this is undoubtedly a terrorist attack but the initial developments and initial intelligence from my governor is that it smells like terrorism,” he added.
A suspect is in custody related to an explosion that killed at least six people and injured at least 81 others in Istanbul on Sunday, Turkey’s interior ministry said early Monday.
The incident has been deemed a terrorist attack, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Sunday, according to state news agency Anadolu.
“We consider it to be a terrorist act as a result of an attacker, whom we consider to be a woman, detonating the bomb,” Oktay told reporters Sunday.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of life caused by the explosion in Istanbul today. We extend our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims and the Turkish people. The United States stands united with our Turkish Allies.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 13, 2022
The United States “strongly condemns the act of violence that took place today in Istanbul,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Sunday. “Our thoughts are with those who were injured and our deepest condolences go to those who lost loved ones.”
