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Turkey declares day of mourning after bombing kills 38 and wounds 166 Turkey declares day of mourning after bombing kills 38 and wounds 166
(about 1 hour later)
A twin bomb attack outside a football stadium in the Turkish city of Istanbul killed 38 people, mostly police officers, and injured more than 160 others, the country’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, has said. A twin bomb attack outside a football stadium in the Istanbul killed 38 people, mostly police officers, and injured more than 160 others, Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, has said.
The explosions, triggered by a car and suicide bomb less than one minute apart, struck outside Beşiktaş’s stadium less than two hours after a match had finished on Saturday evening. The death toll from the two explosions jumped overnight on Saturday to 38, making it one of the most devastating attacks in recent months in Turkey.
Officials said the attack, which killed more than 30 police officers, was believed to have been orchestrated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) and 13 people had been detained overnight. The two bombs, a car packed with 300kg of explosives and a suicide bomb in quick succession, struck 90 minutes before midnight and wounded more than 150 people in the Beşiktaş neighborhood on Istanbul’s European side.
Fourteen of the 166 wounded remained in intensive care,Soylu said. The attacks killed seven civilians and 31 police officers, and occurred two hours after fans had left the stadium, which hosted a match between Bursaspor and local favorites Beşiktaş.
In comments broadcast on CNN Türk, Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmuş, said countries offering messages condemning the bombing should also show solidarity with Turkey’s fight against terrorism. “Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organisations ... and the forces behind them,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a statement.
“The arrows point at the PKK. It is clearly a planned event. There will be an announcement once the investigations are over. We cannot say anything definite for now,” he said. Officials said initial signs were pointing to the involvement of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the bombings. “The arrows point at the PKK. It is clearly a planned event. There will be an announcement once the investigations are over. We cannot say anything definite for now,” said Numan Kurtulmuş, the deputy prime minister.
The prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, declared a day of mourning and ordered flags flown at half mast to commemorate the victims, the state-run Anadolu agency said. The PKK, a separatist insurgency that has been battling against the Turkish state for decades and is listed as a terrorist organisation in the US, has been implicated in several recent attacks across the country.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cancelled a planned trip to Kazakhstan, his office said. Erdoğan described the blasts as a terrorist attack on police and civilians. He said the aim of the bombings, two hours after the end of a match attended by thousands of people, had been to cause the maximum number of casualties. Tensions have steadily risen over the past year and a half after the collapse of peace talks between the government and the PKK, which the authorities accused of rearming in secret. Curfews and fighting in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country ensued.
“Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organisations … and the forces behind them,” he said in a statement. Ankara is also concerned over Kurdish ambitions across the border in Syria, where the PKK’s affiliate, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), has expanded the territory under its control with American backing by seizing areas from Islamic State.
Those fears prompted Turkey to intervene militarily in Syria, sending in commandos and tanks to support Syrian rebels fighting Isis near the border. With Turkish aid, those rebels seized the Isis bordertown of Jarablus and advanced south towards al-Bab, a town north of Aleppo.
The move has blocked a plan for Kurdish control of a wide stretch of territory in northern Syria, but has further increased tensions with the Kurds and their American allies.
In recent weeks, the Turkish government has also arrested a number of top Kurdish parliamentarians that it accuses of fomenting PKK propaganda, a step that observers saw as effectively killing off the peace process. They include Selahattin Demirtaş, whose Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has drawn together an alliance of leftists, youth and Kurdish activists and has been nicknamed the “Turkish Obama”.
Though the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Erdogan was the first to begin secret peace negotiations with the PKK and lifted the taboo surrounding the lifting of restrictions on the Kurdish language, it has more recently drifted towards an alliance with the country’s nationalists, who have adopted a hardline on negotiations.
The latest attack is likely to increase the atmosphere of tension and fears of instability that have endured since an attempted coup in July shook the nation.The prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, declared a day of mourning and ordered flags flown at half-mast to commemorate the victims of the latest attack, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Islamic State has been blamed for some bombings in Turkey this year, while others have been claimed by Kurdish militants. The blasts came less than a week after Isis urged its supporters to target Turkey’s “security, military, economic and media establishment”.There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Islamic State has been blamed for some bombings in Turkey this year, while others have been claimed by Kurdish militants. The blasts came less than a week after Isis urged its supporters to target Turkey’s “security, military, economic and media establishment”.
“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 Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahçe mosque, directly across the road from the stadium. “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 Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque, directly across the road from the stadium. “People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible,” he said.
“People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible,” he said.
Turkey is a member of the Nato military alliance and part of the US-led coalition against Isis. It launched a military incursion into Syria in August against the Islamist group. It is also fighting a Kurdish militant insurgency in its own south-east.
All but two of those killed in the blasts were police officers, Soylu told a news conference with other government ministers. He said 17 of the wounded were undergoing surgery and another six were in intensive care.
Broadcaster NTV said one of the explosions had targeted a police vehicle that was leaving the stadium after fans had already dispersed.
Soylu described the blasts outside the Vodafone Arena, home to Istanbul’s Beşiktaș football team, as a “cruel plot”.
Beşiktaş’s opponents, Bursaspor, said none of their fans appeared to have been injured. The club and Beşiktaş both condemned the attacks. “Those attacking our nation’s unity and solidarity will never win,” sports minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç said on Twitter.
Turkey’s transport minister, Ahmet Arslan, also writing on Twitter, described it as a terrorist attack.
“I condemn the terror attack on Beşiktaş, Istanbul, and wish all those injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.
The US consulate in Istanbul issued a tweet urging people to avoid the area.
(3/3) Please avoid the area, monitor local press reporting, and let friends and family know you are OK.
In June, about 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded when three suspected Isis militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.
Erdal Güven, editor-in-chief of Diken, an independent news portal based in Istanbul, said the brazen attack bore all the hallmarks of the group. “Early suspicions would fall on the PKK or an affiliated organisation, TAK, which always targets the police and has been behind similar bombings in Ankara,” he told the Guardian. “The other suspect, Isis, attacks indiscriminately. It doesn’t care if civilians are killed as well. This seems to have been specifically aimed at the police.”