A bomb suspect has been arrested hours after an explosion – on a busy street in Istanbul, Turkey – killed at least six people. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday that the person was believed to have planted the bomb, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Soylu blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for causing the bombing. “According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organization is responsible,” he was quoted as saying.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier said the bombing “reeks of terrorism”. Additionally, he and the country’s vice president, Faut Oktay, said a “woman” was responsible for the attack. In addition to the six dead, 81 others were injured in Sunday’s incident, when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street.
Video footage that emerged online shortly after the explosion showed hundreds of people fleeing the street after black smoke engulfed the region as ambulances and police rushed to the scene. The place was packed with tourists, families and shoppers as usual. Several people were seen lying on the ground after the blast, while others ran away with parents clutching their children in their arms.
Authorities later reported that a Turkish government ministry worker and his daughter were among the dead. Five people among the injured were taken to the hospital’s intensive care unit, with two of them in critical condition.
Erdogan told a news conference that efforts to “defeat Turkey and the Turkish people through terrorism will fail today just like yesterday and just like tomorrow.” “Our people can be sure that the culprits … will be punished as they deserve,” he said. Meanwhile, Anadolu reported that Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the woman had been sitting on a bench in the street for more than 40 minutes before leaving minutes before the blast, suggesting the bomb was timed to explode or detonated from a distance.
Condemnation of the attack and condolences for the victims poured in from many countries, including Ukraine, Britain, Italy, Egypt and Greece. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Two bomb attacks hit an Istanbul football stadium in December 2016, killing up to 38 people and injuring 155. An offshoot of the PKK – designated by Turkey, the US and the European Union (EU) as a terrorist group – claimed responsibility at the time.
