ISTANBUL/ANKARA – Five
people including a suicide bomber were killed and 36 wounded in an attack on a
major shopping and tourist district in central Istanbul on Saturday, in the
fourth suicide bombing to hit Turkey this year.

There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for the attack on part of Istiklal Street, a long
pedestrian street lined with global shops and foreign consulates, a few hundred
metres from an area where police buses are often parked.

Two Turkish officials said
evidence suggested the attacker was likely from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) or the Islamic State militant group. NATO member Turkey faces
security threats from both the PKK in the mainly Kurdish southeast and has also
been a target for Islamist militants.

One of the official said
the bomber had planned to hit a more crowded spot.

“The attacker
detonated the bomb before reaching the targeted point because they were scared
of the police,” the official said, declining to be named because the
investigation is ongoing.

Armed police sealed off
the shopping street where half a dozen ambulances had gathered. Forensic teams
in white suits scoured the area for evidence. Police helicopters buzzed
overhead and panicked shoppers fled the area, ducking down narrow sidestreets.

“My local shopkeeper
told me someone had blown himself up and I walked towards the end of the
street,” one neighbourhood resident told Reuters.

“I saw a body on the
street. No one was treating him but then I saw someone who appeared to be a
regular citizen trying to do something to the body. That was enough for me and
I turned and went back.”

Istiklal Street, usually
thronged with shoppers on weekends, was quieter than normal before the blast as
more people are staying home after a series of deadly bombings.

Health Minister Mehmet
Muezzinoglu confirmed that 36 people had been wounded and seven of those were
in serious condition. Twelve of the wounded were foreigners, he said.

Israel’s foreign ministry
confirmed some of its citizens were among the wounded.

Broadcaster NTV said six
of the wounded were Israeli tourists and two others were from Iceland.

“We as a nation are
unfortunately now face to face with a situation of unlimited, immeasurable acts
that are inhumane, defy human values and are treacherous,” Muezzinoglu
said.

DEADLY BOMBINGS

A suicide car bombing in
the capital Ankara killed 37 people this month. A similar bombing in Ankara
last month killed 29 people. A Kurdish militant group has claimed
responsibility for both of those bombings.

In January, a suicide
bomber killed around 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s
historic heart, an attack the government blamed on Islamic State.

The attack brought swift
condemnation from around the globe. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,
who was on an official visit to Istanbul, described the bombing as an attack
that showed “the ugly face of terrorism”.

France condemned the
attack as “despicable and cowardly”.

Germany, which this week
shut its embassy, consulate and schools in Ankara and Istanbul over security
fears, urged tourists in Istanbul to stay in their hotels.

Turkey’s Peoples’
Democratic Party (HDP), a Kurdish-rooted opposition party, condemned the
bombing.

“Just as in the
Ankara attack, this is a terrorist act that directly targets civilians,”
the HDP said in an e-mailed statement. “Whoever carried out this attack,
it is unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Turkey is fighting
Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling PKK militants
in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering
the worst violence since the 1990s.

In its armed campaign in
Turkey, the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces and
says that it does not target civilians. However, the recent bombings suggest it
could be shifting tactics.

The PKK is looking to
carry out attacks aggressively during the Newroz spring holiday around March
21, the official said. Newroz is largely celebrated by Kurds in Turkey and has
in past years seen violent clashes between demonstrators and the security forces.

– Reuters