Turkish police sealed off a central Istanbul square in the historic Sultanahmet district on Tuesday after a large explosion. (Photo: DHA)
An explosion believed to be caused by a suicide bombing rocked İstanbul’s central Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist attraction, on Tuesday, leaving 10 people dead and 15 wounded. Officials said most of those killed were German nationals.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the attack appears to have been carried out by a “Syrian-origin” suicide bomber.
“I condemn the terror incident in İstanbul assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin. Unfortunately we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals… There are also 15 wounded,” Erdoğan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, in a speech broadcast live on television.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that all of those killed in the attack are foreign nationals.He also said that the suicide bomber is a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters in Ankara following a high-level security meeting hastily called to discuss the attack, that most of those killed in the blast are foreign nationals and two of the 15 wounded have serious injuries. He also said that the suicide bomber who carried out the attack is a 28-year-old Syrian national. Doğan news agency reported that the suicide bomber is identified as Saudi-Arabian born Nabil Fadlı.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, although Reuters, citing two senior officials, reported that there is a high probability that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants were responsible for the explosion in the Sultanahmet Sqaure.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone most of the 10 people killed in the İstanbul blast on Tuesday were German citizens, Reuters reported, citing sources in Davutoğlu’s office said.
Davutoğlu also told Merkel on the phone call that the details of an ongoing investigation regarding the suicide attack will be shared with German officials.
A senior Turkish government official stold the AP that at least nine of the victims of Tuesday’s suicide bombing are German nationals.
The Doğan news agency earlier reported that at least six Germans, one Norwegian and one Peruvian are among those injured in the explosion. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry also told reporters via text message after the blast that one South Korean had a minor finger injury. The Cihan news agency also reported, citing South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, that a South Korean tourist was slightly injured during the explosion.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed worry that German citizens might be among the victims and the wounded in the explosion.
“International terrorism has shown its ugly face,” said Merkel. “We need to act decisively against it.”
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had said that German citizens may have died in the attack and that Germans were almost certainly among the injured.
“By now we have to assume that also Germans have been injured in this terror attack,” Steinmeier said. “We also can’t exclude that Germans are among the dead.”
Germany’s Foreign Ministry warned German citizens to avoid crowds outside tourist attractions in İstanbul, saying on its website that further violent clashes and “terrorist attacks” are expected across Turkey. It also urged travelers to stay away from demonstrations and gatherings, particularly in large cities.
Denmark has joined Germany in warning its citizens to avoid crowds outside tourist attractions in Turkey. The Danish Foreign Ministry updated its website following Tuesday’s deadly explosion. The travel advisory said Danes should “until further notice” avoid public places and other places where a lot of people are gathered.
The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposed a temporary media ban on coverage of the explosion after a demand from the Prime Ministry.