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Suicide bomb attack in Istanbul kills 4, 20 wounded | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
ISTANBUL — A suicide attacker detonated a bomb on Istanbul’s main pedestrian shopping street on Saturday, killing four people, the city’s governor said. Twenty other people were injured in the attack. The attacker was among the dead. | |
Governor Vasip Sahin said the explosion occurred outside a local government office on Istiklal Street, which is also home to cafes, restaurants and foreign consulate buildings. Dogan news agency says at least three of the injured are Israeli nationals. | |
The explosion comes as Turkey is on edge following two recent suicide car bomb attacks in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group, which is an off-shoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The most recent attack, on March 13, targeted a line of bus stops on Ankara’s busiest street and killed 37 including two bombers. | |
Police sealed off the area as a helicopter hovered overhead. A forensic team was at the scene. | |
“It was one loud explosion,” said Muhammed Fatur, a Syrian who works at a nearby butcher shop. “Police came to the scene and sealed off the area.” | |
Turkey had heightened security in Ankara and Istanbul in the run-up to a Kurdish spring festival of Newroz on March 21, which Kurds in Turkey traditionally use to assert their ethnic identity and demand greater rights. | |
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Fraser reported from Ankara | |
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |