This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/10/bomb-outside-istanbul-football-stadium-causes-multiple-casualties

The article has changed 19 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Turkey: explosion at Istanbul football stadium causes multiple casualties Turkey: explosions at Istanbul football stadium cause multiple casualties
(35 minutes later)
A car bomb outside a football stadium in central Istanbul wounded at least 20 people, including a number of police officers, hours after the end of a match between two of Turkey’s top teams, the interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, has said. Turkish authorities have reported that a major soccer stadium in Istanbul was hit by at least two explosions on Saturday night, in which around 20 police were wounded.
Armed police sealed off streets around the Vodafone Arena, home to the Beşiktaş football team, a Reuters witness said. TV footage showed what appeared to be the wreckage of a burned-out car and two separate fires on the road outside the stadium. Witnesses said more police were deployed and had cordoned off the area as smoke rose from the newly built Beșiktaș Stadium. They said gunfire had also been heard in what appeared to have been an armed attack on police. Broadcaster NTV said the explosion seemed to have targeted a police vehicle that was leaving the stadium after fans had dispersed.
Soylu, speaking in parliament during a budget hearing, said about 20 people had been wounded and that initial indications were that the blast was caused by a car bomb targeting a riot police bus. Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, gave the casualty toll and said the wounded were police officers. “It is thought to be a car bomb at a point where our special forces police were located, right after the match at the exit where Bursaspor fans exited, after the fans had left,” he said. “We have no information on the number of dead. God willing, we hope there won’t be any. The wounded are police.”
Prime minister Binali Yıldıriım and Istanbul governor Vasip Şahin had been notified, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Two witnesses told Reuters they had heard two blasts outside the Vodafone Arena, which lies on the edge of the Bosphorus in central Istanbul and is home to the Besiktas soccer team. A Reuters photographer said many riot police officers were seriously wounded.
“It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque,” said Omer Yilmiz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque. “People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter. It was horrible.”
Armed police sealed off streets around the stadium. A police water cannon doused the wreckage of a burnt-out car and there were two separate fires on the road outside the building. Images broadcast on television showed more than a dozen ambulances on a street hugging the stadium and a police helicopter flying overhead with its search lights on.
Turkish soccer team Bursaspor said none of its fans appeared to have been injured in the explosion. “We have contacted our fan groups. There appear to be no injuries among our fans. We wish injured citizens a quick recovery,” Bursaspor said in a statement on its Twitter account.
In a tweet, Turkey’s transport minister, Ahmet Arslan, referred to the bombing as a terrorist attack.
“I condemn the terror attack on Besiktas, Istanbul, and wish all those injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.
Turkey has been hit by a series of bombings in recent years, some blamed on Islamic State militants, others claimed by Kurdish and far-leftist militant groups.