At approximately 10:30 pm local time and two hours after a soccer game, two explosions detonated near a soccer stadium in Istanbul Turkey, killing at least 29 and wounding 166 (six of those are in critical condition). According to TRT News, 27 of the 29 killed were police officers. A car bomb detonated outside the Besiktas stadium while a suicide bomber detonated their device 45 seconds later (less than a mile away).
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu confirmed that 27 police officers and two civilians were killed after Saturday night’s twin blasts outside the Besiktas football stadium in central Istanbul.
A car bomb was remotely detonated outside the stadium and 45 seconds later, a suicide bomber triggered his device at Macka Park next to the Vodafone Arena, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said at a joint press conference early Sunday morning.
Soylu said 166 were injured and six are in critical condition.
He added that 10 people had been detained in connection with Saturday night’s terror attacks.” –TRT News
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu did state there were 10 detained shortly after the bombings but did not clarify any affiliation with either of the most likely groups, ISIS or the PKK. More to follow.
Update:
AP reported 38 dead and 155 wounded from the double bombing in Turkey. No one has claimed the terrorist attack but Turkish officials suspect it was the PKK.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but three senior officials said suspicions focused on Kurdish militants.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that “arrows point to the PKK,” the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency. That assessment was echoed by Erdogan and Soylu.- AP
Image courtesy of AP
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