Istanbul Street Blast: According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a powerful explosion of unknown origin rocked Istanbul’s busy commercial area of Istiklal on Sunday. This incident killed six people and injured scores more.
Vice President Turkey Sayings:
According to Turkey’s vice president, the incident was carried out by a suicide bomber.
In a televised press conference, Erdogan said:
“It might be wrong if we say for sure that this is terror, but according to first signs… there is a smell of terror there.”
He declared that the perpetrators of this heinous attack are being sought after by the appropriate state agencies.
On Sunday afternoon, many people were in the area, so police fenced it off while helicopters flew over the city’s core and sirens sounded.
AFP’s Sayings:
“I was about 50 and 55 yards away when I suddenly heard an explosion. I noticed three or four individuals lying on the floor “57-year-old witness Cemal Denizci spoke to AFP.
“In a panic, people were running. It made a lot of noise. The smoke was dark. Additionally, the noise was so loud that it was nearly deafening, “said he.
As they left the area, parents gathered their kids in their arms.
According to an AFP video journalist on the site, the police have set up a big security cordon to bar entry to the damaged area out of concern for a second explosion.
Additionally, a sizable security presence equally barred all entrances, and it was clear that both police and rescue personnel were heavily deployed.
Images shared on social media at the time of the explosion show that flames accompanied it and that people instantly ran in all directions out of fright.
These pictures showed a massive dark crater and several bodies on the ground nearby.
Istiklal Street had previously been attacked during an attack campaign that targeted Istanbul in 2015–2016.
Moreover,tThese attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, left more than 2,000 injured and nearly 500 dead.
6 People Killed in Istanbul Street Blast
On the Istanbul Street Blast incident, Turkey’s vice president claimed that a woman was probably responsible for the “terrorist act”. It left at least six people dead, and over 80 others hurt.
Interior Minister’s Saying:
Suleyman Soylu, Turkey’s interior minister, announced on Monday that the person responsible for the bombing on Sunday. They killed multiple people who had been apprehended.
Soylu said, “Our Istanbul Police Department teams detained the individual who left the device.”
He continued, “According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organization is accountable: ” referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and, consequently. Furthermore, its Democratic Union Party-affiliated Syrian branch.
What transpired in the Istiklal Street Blast?
Social media videos could show multiple persons on the ground amid bomb wreckage. The video showed the arrival of the police and an ambulance.
According to Turkish media accounts, the explosion happened at 4:20 pm local time (1330 GMT). Additionally, Online videos captured at the explosion showed a fireball engulfing the busy boulevard as people strolled before turning abruptly and fleeing in terror.
These include the two bombings in December 2016 outside an Istanbul football stadium, leaving 155 people injured and 38 dead. An offshoot of the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since the 1980s and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The ongoing struggle between Turkey and the Kurds
Ankara asserts that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack on Sunday amid a protracted struggle between Turkish forces and the communist PKK.
In recent years, a portion of northern Syria controlled by the Kurds has seen Turkish invasion and occupation. Additionally, Ankara has regularly imprisoned important Kurdish political activists and banned pro-Kurdish political parties.
Despite objections from Washington, Moscow, and Tehran. Erdogan has threatened to deploy Turkish troops back into Syria to combat the US-supported Kurdish militias.
By equating a condolence message from the White House to a “killer being the first to show up at a crime scene,” Soylu further blamed the US.
World leaders respond to the Istanbul Street Blast
Istanbul Street Blast: Erdogan received condolences from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “My prayers are with the victims and their families. Moreover, my best wishes are with those of the injured,” the speaker said. Steinmeier penned a letter on Sunday, per a statement from his office.
“We Germans support the people of Istanbul and Turkey at this time of shock.”
Furthermore, Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, added: “The people who merely wanted to stroll down the Istiklal shopping street are in my thoughts. They are currently suffering from a catastrophic explosion.”
The White House said: “Our sympathies are with those who were hurt, and our sincere condolences go to those who lost loved ones.” Therefore, The statement stated that the US and Turkey were fighting terrorism “shoulder to side.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a letter to the Turkish people: “We feel your grief. We support you in your battle against terrorism.
The Turkish-language tweet from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy read, “The anguish of the friendly Turkish people is our pain.”
Moreover, Bozdag stated that authorities are investigating the woman and that Turkish security agencies believe she is the suspect in an interview with the privately owned A Haber news station.
There are two potential outcomes. That bag or plastic bag either has a mechanism, explodes independently, or is detonated remotely. All of these are being looked into right now, he added.
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