Istanbul: The bombing in central Istanbul that killed six people was masterminded by a Syrian woman, who also revealed she was a Kurdish terrorist, according to Turkish police.
According to police, the woman is "of Syrian nationality", according to private NTV television. According to reports, he admitted taking an order from the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
Six people were killed in a bomb blast in a busy shopping district of Istanbul, according to Turkey's interior minister. On Sunday afternoon, an explosion rocked Istiklal Street, a popular tourist and local shopping area, injuring several people. Police have detained 46 suspects including the bomb planter.
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Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced earlier in a statement carried by the official Anadolu news agency that "the person who planted the bomb has been arrested."
Our research indicates that the terrorist group PKK is responsible," he said.
The PKK has maintained a deadly insurgency for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since the 1980s, and both Ankara and its Western allies have designated the group as a terrorist organization.
The organization, which is often the target of Turkish military operations, is also at the center of a dispute between Sweden and Turkey, which has been blocking Stockholm's entry into NATO since May on the grounds that Stockholm has been soft towards the PKK.
According to a senior Turkish official cited in a separate report, Turkish officials believe the perpetrator of the bombings had links to Kurdish militants, but are not completely ruling out Daesh involvement. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the "despicable attack" on Istiklal.
Erdogan told a news conference on Sunday that "it might be wrong if we say for sure that it is terror but according to the first signs... it smells of terror."
Turkey's vice president Fuat Oktay said, "We believe it is a terroristic act by an attacker, who we believe to be a woman, who detonated the bomb."
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said, "A woman had been sitting on a bench for more than 40 minutes before getting up."
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He told A Haber television that an explosion occurred "a minute or two later". He said there are two options. "This bag explodes either due to some mechanism placed inside it or it is detonated remotely by someone."
All data on this woman is currently being examined, he said. There is no new information regarding the woman in Soylu's announcement. In the past, Islamists and other groups have attacked Turkish cities. Istiklal Street was hit during an attack campaign in 2015–2016, among other cities including Istanbul and Ankara.
Nearly 500 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured in those bombings, which were mainly attributed to the Daesh terrorist organization and outlawed Kurdish militants. The deadly explosion occurred shortly after 4 p.m. in the famous shopping district on Sunday. (1300 GMT).
After the attack, helicopters flew over the main part of the city. To prevent access to the area out of concern for a second explosion, police set up a massive security perimeter.
Social media posts showed that flames shot up after the explosion, which immediately caused panic and people fled in all directions.
Many dead bodies were lying on the ground nearby.
"I was 50 to 55 meters away when I suddenly heard an explosion. I saw three or four people on the ground," said 57-year-old eyewitness Kemal Denizci. He claimed, "People were running frantically. It made a lot of noise. There was black smoke."
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One of Istanbul's most famous streets is Istiklal, which runs through the Beyoglu historic district. For about a mile or 1.4 kilometers, it is entirely walkable.
It attracts a lot of people on the weekend as it is surrounded by an old tramway and has a long strip of shops and eateries. While some onlookers ran from the scene of the explosion in tears, many shops in the nearby Galata district closed early.
All entrances were blocked by a large security presence, and police and rescue workers were visible. Broadcasters were banned from airing footage of the blast by Turkey's radio and television watchdog, RTUK, an action taken in the wake of earlier terrorist attacks.
Access to social media was also limited following the attack.
Greece responded quickly, "unequivocally" condemning the explosion and offering its sympathies to the Turkish government and people.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: "We stand shoulder to shoulder with our NATO ally Turkey in combating terrorism." America also condemned it. In a letter to the Turks, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote: "We share your pain. We support your efforts to fight terrorism.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog tweeted in Turkish and English, "Shook by news of the despicable bombing in Istanbul targeting innocent civilians." "Against terror, the entire world must unite and stand firm."
The Turkish-language tweet from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky read, "The pain of the friendly Turkish people is our pain." Charles Michel, the president of the EU Council, tweeted: "My thoughts are with the victims & their families," expressing his condolences to Turkiye.