Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced an attack that caused 6 deaths and 58 wounded on Sunday in Istanbul.
“The authors of this vile attack will be unmasked. Let our population be sure that they will be punished, “he declared two hours after the explosion occurred in the Istiklal shopping street, in the heart of Istanbul.
Ambulances rushed to the scene on Istikla Avenue, which was quickly cordoned off by police. The area, in the Beyoglu district of Turkey’s largest city, was packed over the weekend with shoppers, tourists and families.
“Efforts to defeat Turkey and the Turkish people through terrorism will fail today as they did yesterday and as they will fail again tomorrow,” Erdogan told a news conference.
“Our people can be sure that those responsible for the attack will be punished as they deserve,” he said, adding that the first reports indicated that “a woman participated.”
“It would be wrong to say that it is undoubtedly a terrorist attack, but the first facts and the initial information from my governor is that the event smacks of terrorism,” he said.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and other terrorist groups.
Local media said the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the blast. If confirmed, it would be the first major bomb blast in Istanbul in several years.
In December 2016, two bomb attacks outside a football stadium in Istanbul left 38 dead and 155 injured in an attack claimed by a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
