Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called it a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism.”
Six people were killed and 81 injured as an explosion shook a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul on Sunday in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism.”Hundreds of people fled historic Istiklal Street as ambulances and police arrived after the explosion. The area of Beyoğlu district in Turkey’s largest city was bustling with shoppers, tourists, and families as usual over the weekend.
Hours after the explosion, Vice President Huat Oktay visited the scene to report the latest death toll and casualty figures and promised to resolve the matter “immediately.” employee and his daughter died. Five people were admitted to the intensive care unit, two in critical condition. No one took responsibility for the explosion.
Kurdish separatists, Islamic extremists, and other groups have attacked Istanbul and other Turkish cities, including a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016. “Today will be like yesterday, tomorrow it will fail,” Erdogan said at a press conference before heading to Indonesia to attend the G20 summit. “Our people can be confident that those who commit crimes will be punished as they deserve,” he said, adding that initial information indicated “women played a role.”
“It would be wrong to say that this was a terrorist attack, but my governor’s first deployment, and the first information is that it smells of terrorism,” he added. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said state-run Anadolu said minutes before the explosion, a woman had sat on a bench for more than 40 minutes and left.
In December 2016, two bombs exploded outside a football stadium in Istanbul, killing 38 people and injuring 155. This is an attack claimed by a faction of the extremist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. Condemnation of the 4,444 attacks and condolences to the victims came from several countries, including Greece, Egypt, Ukraine, the UK, Azerbaijan, Italy, and Pakistan. EU Council President Charles Michel took to Twitter to offer his condolences to the victims after the “horrifying news.”
