An ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up in the heart of Istanbul’s main tourism district and killed ten German travellers after entering the country from Syria.
The massive explosion rocked the Sultanahmet neighbourhood where tens of thousands of tourists flock to see its world-famous monuments every day.
A picture circulated online by Turkish media showed a giant fireball erupting next to an Egyptian obelisk where tourists had gathered, however the image has not been independently verified.
Local media, quoting Turkish sources, claimed ten German travellers were killed and at least six Germans, one Norwegian and a Peruvian were reportedly wounded in the blast.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his deputy Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber was a 28-year-old Syrian national who recently entered the country and was not on Turkey’s watchlist of suspected militants.
Mr Kurtulmus said thousands of people were being tracked for suspected militant links but the bomber was not one of them.
Witnesses said the blast shook buildings and could be heard across the city, while images showed corpses and body parts strewn across a square near iconic sites including the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia museum.
A dead body lies on the ground after an explosion near by Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul
A dead body lies on the ground after an explosion near by Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul
Police cordoned off the area to shocked passers-by and tourists and the nearby tram service has been halted amid fears of a second blast.
‘I condemn the terror incident in Istanbul assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin,’ Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara in a speech broadcast live on television.
‘Unfortunately we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals,’ Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, in a speech broadcast live on television.
‘This incident has once again showed that as a nation we should act as one heart, one body in the fight against terror. Turkey’s determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end.’
Omer Celik, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s ruling party, issued a statement condemning what he called ‘a heinous attack.’
Chancellor Angela Merkel said members of a German tour group were among the likely casualties and that German officials were working with their Turkish counterparts to determine the identities of the victims and offer assistance to their loved ones.
She said: ‘We don’t have all the information yet… but we fear that German citizens could be and probably are also among the victims and injured.’
Merkel said the latest attack would deepen German resolve to combat international terrorism.
‘Today it hit Istanbul, it has hit Paris, it hit Tunisia, it had already hit Ankara,’ she said at a press conference following talks with visiting Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.
‘International terrorism once again showed its cruel and inhuman face and along with the sorrow that we of course feel, it once again shows the necessity to act decisively against terrorism and ultimately overcome these atrocities.’
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