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Twin Blasts In Istanbul Claim 38 Lives, Mostly Police Officers
Swarajya Staff
Dec 12, 2016, 03:17 PM | Updated 03:17 PM IST
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The Kurdish Freedom Hawks (TAK), a breakaway group of the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), has claimed responsibility for two bombings in Istanbul Saturday (10 September).
Thirty-eight people, mostly police officers, lost their lives and 155 wounded in the twin bomb attacks in Istanbul, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in a press conference, as reported by CNN. According to Soylu, a remote control detonated a car bomb for the explosion. Following that, a suicide bomber caused a second explosion.
Numan Kurtulmuş, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, claimed that the attack was directed at the police.
The blast occurred after fans from both teams left the stadium… The blast hit riot police units who were on routine duty after the game in the area. So the attack directly targeted our police.
Authorities estimate that at least 300-400kg of explosives were used in the car bomb attack. On Saturday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said:
It does not matter what is the name and the method of the terror organization who conducted the terror attack. Whenever Turkey takes a positive step towards the future the answer comes as blood savagery and chaos.
In his address, the prime minister called out the Islamic State, PKK and a movement affiliated with United States-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for targeting Turkey.
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