Deaths after explosion – attack in Istanbul: What is known so far – News

    That happened: According to official figures, at least six people died and another 81 were injured in an explosion in the center of the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul. Authorities assume a bomb attack. The attack took place on the Istiklal shopping street, a tourist hotspot in the center of the European part of the Turkish metropolis, which is often crowded even on Sundays. In a video shared on social media, flames erupt and a loud bang is heard as pedestrians turn and run away.

These are the possible culprits: After the bomb attack, the authorities said they arrested the person who is said to have planted the bomb. There are connections to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. The Turkish government had previously spoken of a suspicious woman. Videos show that the woman sat on a bench on the shopping street for about 40 minutes and got up just before the detonation, according to Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag.

The Turkish police published further details on Monday. Accordingly, the alleged assassin is Syrian with connections to the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG. According to the police, the alleged assassin also admitted to having entered Turkey via Syria. There were 46 arrests in connection with yesterday’s attack. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had previously spoken of 22 arrests along with the main suspect.

Legend:

Keystone/KHALIL HAMRA

    This is how Turkey reacts: Most of the reporting on the attack was stopped in the Turkish media. The Rtük broadcasting authority imposed a temporary news ban on the media. Reports of the explosion should be avoided so as not to cause fear and panic among the population, the letter said on Sunday afternoon. The Information Technology and Communications Authority (BTK) also reportedly reduced bandwidth for social media platforms on Sunday evening. For users, this meant that pages were significantly slower or only accessible via VPN.

Forensic scientist at work.

Legend:

Forensic scientist at work.

Keystone/FRANCISCO SECO

This is what the Turkish government says about the attack: Before leaving for the G20 summit in Indonesia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a “sneaky attack”. It might be wrong to speak definitively of terrorism, the President said. But Governor Yerlikaya told him there was a “smell of terror” in the air. Vice President Fuat Oktay spoke of a “terrorist attack” on Sunday evening. Interior Minister Soylu announced retaliation, according to TRT.

This is how other countries react: Federal President Ignazio Cassis expressed his condolences to Turkey and the families of the victims. In view of the bomb attack, Switzerland is expressing all of its solidarity with Turkey, Cassis wrote on the short message service Twitter on Sunday evening.

US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, condemned the “act of violence”. “We stand side by side with our NATO ally Turkey in the fight against terrorism,” she said. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also expressed her condolences.

These are the possible reasons for the attack: There have been repeated attacks in Turkey in the past – including in the center of Istanbul. In 2016, for example, a suicide bomber blew himself up on Istiklal, killing four people and injuring 39 others. According to the Turkish government, the assassin had connections to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. The group itself did not confess to the crime at the time. In 2015 and 2017, there were a series of attacks in numerous other places in Istanbul and other cities in Turkey.

The terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS) and splinter groups of the PKK, such as the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed almost 500 people and injured more than 2,000. The PKK is on the terrorist lists in Turkey, Europe and the USA (not in Switzerland) and maintains positions in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Their headquarters are in the northern Iraqi Kandil Mountains. Ankara regularly takes action against the PKK, which is fighting for its own Kurdistan state, and has maintained military posts in northern Iraq since 2016. The conflict, which has been going on since 1984, has so far claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. A ceasefire failed in the summer of 2015.

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