Female ‘terror’ bomber nabbed
Toll rises in Turkey blast
ISTANBUL: Turkish police have arrested a woman believed to be responsible for a bomb attack that tore through a crowded Istanbul shopping street, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more.
The arrest came after chilling CCTV images were released showing the woman – wearing a hijab, a leather jacket and camouflage combat trousers – running away from the scene just moments before the bomb exploded.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu confirmed the suspected bomber had been arrested. “The person who dropped the bomb was detained by our General Directorate of Security,” he said.
Mr Soylu accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of causing the bomb attack.
“According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organisation is responsible,” he said.
Earlier, police cordoned off an area around Istiklal, where there were dense crowds on Sunday afternoon (local time) when the bomb exploded near an area where the woman had been sitting on a bench for more than 40 minutes.
The bomb exploded minutes after she left.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called a “vile attack”.
“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 told a press conference.
Vice-President Fuat Oktay was more forthright in calling the explosion a terror attack.
“We believe that it is a terrorist act carried out by an attacker exploding the bomb,” Mr Oktay said.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag gave a clearer explanation of what unfolded: “A woman had been sitting on one of the benches for more than 40 minutes and then she got up,” Mr Bozdag said.
“One or two minutes later, an explosion occurred,” he told local television.
“There are two possibilities. There’s either a mechanism placed in this bag and it explodes, or someone remotely explodes (it).”
Horrified witnesses described the carnage and chaos in the busy shopping area where prams were seen scattered among the debris.
“I was 50m away, suddenly there was the noise of an explosion. I saw three or four people on the ground,” Cemal Denizci, 57, said.
Nobody had immediately claimed responsibility, but Turkish cities have been struck by Islamist terrorist groups in the past, including Islamic State and outlawed Kurdish militants.