- There was an explosion on the popular Istiklal shopping street in the Taksim district of Istanbul on Sunday afternoon.
- According to official figures, at least six people were killed and 81 others injured.
- The police arrested a suspect who is said to have planted the bomb on the shopping street.
After the bomb attack in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul on Sunday afternoon, the authorities say they arrested the person who is said to have planted the bomb on the Istiklal shopping street.
This was announced by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu early Monday morning, according to state broadcaster TRT. There are connections to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. Soylu announced retaliation, according to TRT.
dead and dozens injured
After Sunday afternoon’s blast, videos and images quickly circulated on social media showing people lying on the ground, broken shop windows and police helicopters circling over the area.
Legend:
Numerous rescue workers are on duty after an explosion in the center of Istanbul.
Reuters/KEMAL ASLAN
39 of the 81 injured have now been discharged from the hospital, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted on Monday night. Of the 42 people who were still being treated, five were in intensive care, two of them were considered seriously injured.
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.
Explosion in busy shopping street
The blast happened at 4:20 p.m. local time (2:20 p.m. in Switzerland) when the crowd on Istiklal Street was particularly dense, NTV reported. The street is a tourist hotspot in 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.
condolences
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.
Numerous attacks in the past
A suicide bomber blew himself up on the same street in 2016, killing four people and injuring 39 others.
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.