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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 |
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| 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. | 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 death toll from the two explosions jumped overnight to 38, making it one of the most devastating attacks in recent months in Turkey. | |
| The two bombs, a car packed with 300kg of explosives and a suicide bomb in quick succession, struck at about 10.30pm in the Beşiktaş neighbourhood on Istanbul’s European side. | |
| The attacks killed seven civilians and 31 police officers and wounded more than 150, and occurred two hours after fans had left the stadium, which hosted a match between Beskitas and Bursaspor. | |
| “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. | “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. |
| 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 PKK, a separatist party 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. | |
| Tensions have risen steadily 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 south-east of the country ensued. | |
| 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 US 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. | 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. | 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 considered by observers as effectively killing off the peace process. They include Selahattin Demirtaş, whose People’s 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 Erdoğan 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 hard line 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 country. | |
| 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 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. | “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. |