Eleven dead in bomb attack on Istanbul bus

A RUSH-HOUR car bomb ripped through central Istanbul yesterday, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more in one of the worst terrorist attacks on the city for nearly a decade.

The explosion appeared to target a shuttle bus carrying riot police as it passed through a busy junction in Beyazit, close to the Grand Bazaar.

The death toll from terrorist attacks across Turkey has passed 100 this year alone. Although the deadliest have been linked to Isil, a string have also been claimed by militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which regularly targets security personnel in its civil war with the government.

Yesterday’s blast mangled the police bus and several nearby cars. It also shattered windows at a 16th-century Ottoman mosque, Sehzadebasi and forced the cancellation of exams at the nearby Istanbul University.

Hours after the explosion, police detained four suspects reported to have hired the car used in the bombing. The reports made no mention of the suspects’ possible affiliation. The authorities imposed a news blackout.

President Recep Tayip Erdogan suggested that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind the attack and pledged to continue Turkey’s fight against terrorism. But there was no early claim of responsibility.

John Bass, the US ambassador to Turkey, condemned the “heinous attack”, saying his country continued to “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism”.