Istanbul Bombing Kills at Least 4 and Wounds Dozens

A suicide bomber struck at the heart of Istanbul’s most popular avenue on Saturday, killing at least four people, including two Americans, and wounding 36, officials said.

A spokesman for the State Department, John Kirby, confirmed on Saturday afternoon that two American citizens, Yonathan Suher and Avraham Goldman, had been killed. No other details were available.

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel announced that two Israelis had died in the blast, but he did not give their names. In addition, 11 Israelis were wounded, according to Israeli officials. Mr. Netanyahu said there was no immediate evidence that the attack had been aimed at Israelis.

It was the latest in a string of urban terrorist attacks that have underscored Turkey’s vulnerability as the country faces a revitalized Kurdish insurgency and a deeper involvement in Syria’s war and refugee crisis.

The blast took place near the district governor’s office on Istanbul’s central Istiklal Street, adjacent to shops, cafes and foreign consulates.

Tensions were already high in Turkey after two major suicide bombings in the capital, Ankara, in recent weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/world/europe/istanbul-turkey-bombing.html?_r=0

Suicide Bomb In Istanbul Kills Five, Wounds 36

A suicide bomber attacked a major pedestrian street in central Istanbul on Saturday, killing five people, including himself, and injuring 36, officials say.

The explosion struck Istiklal Street, The Associated Press reports, a busy street full of cafes, shops, restaurants and foreign consulates.

Zeynep Bilginsoy, reporting from Istanbul, tells our Newscast unit that the bomb struck at 11 a.m. local time.

“The Istanbul governor said the suicide bomber detonated in front of the district governor’s building,” Zeynep says. “The neighborhood has been cordoned off and helicopters can be heard over the city.”

The strike comes less than a week after a car bomb in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, killed more than three dozen people. In January, an explosion in a tourist neighborhood in Istanbul killed 13 tourists.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/19/471077610/suicide-bomb-in-istanbul-kills-five-wounds-36

Istanbul police kill two female leftist militants in standoff

Turkish police killed two female leftist militants who hurled grenades and opened fire at an Istanbul police station on Thursday, officials said. The two women – members of the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) – had taken refuge in an apartment after their attack in the Bayrampasa district.

Police then launched an assault on the apartment, and the two were “neutralised”, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin was quoted as saying by the official Anatolia news agency. Two police officers were slightly wounded. The women were named as Cigdem Yaksi and Berna Yilmaz, both members of the DHKP-C and aged 27, Anatolia said. It said Yilmaz had previously been jailed after a protest against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2010 while he was still premier. In a statement on its website and social media channels, the DHKP-C claimed the attack and acknowledged the death of the pair, describing the women as “warriors for justice”.

The two women had thrown several grenades then opened fire at the riot police headquarters and also attacked a passing police bus. Security footage broadcast on television showed them brandishing weapons they pulled out of their handbags. Officers returned fire, injuring one of the attackers before they fled to the nearby building.

Turkey has been on a state of alert for months since a series of deadly attacks on its soil. Last month, 29 people were killed in a car bombing that targeted a military convoy in Ankara, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In the last year, there were four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the deadliest in Turkey’s modern history that killed 103 people in Ankara in October.

http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/22031/

The numbing predictability of the Istanbul tragedy

It’s conventional after attacks to express surprise and shock. But when a suicide bomber ripped through a group of German tourists on Tuesday morning last week in central Istanbul the shock was genuine, but no-one could feign surprise. This was the attack that everyone had feared.

Attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists had struck Turkey three times in 2015 — once in Diyarbakir, once in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border, and then in Ankara where 103 people were killed in modern Turkey’s bloodiest ever attack.

http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/the-numbing-predictability-of-the-istanbul-tragedy

#afp's @Stuart_JW on the #istanbulblast 'attack that everyone had feared.' @AFPblogs https://t.co/en7eUg3hXb pic.twitter.com/1tuuBilgBb

— AFP Correspondent (@AFPblogs) January 19, 2016

AT LEAST 10 KILLED IN SUICIDE BOMBING NEAR TOURISTS IN ISTANBUL

One more injured is Norwegian and another one is Peruvian, according to Dogan news agency. Norway’s Foreign Ministry later confirmed that one Norwegian citizen was injured in the blast and is receiving treatment at a local hospital.

“It’s not a life-threatening injury,” Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Guri Solberg said.

There was a group of German tourists on the square at the time of the blasts, an official from a tour company told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

At least 10 killed in suicide bombing near tourists in Istanbul

 

At least 10 foreigners killed, 15 wounded in suicide bombing on central Istanbul square

The explosion took place on Sultanahmet Square, close to the Sultanahmet tram stop and Dikilitas, the Obelisk of Theodosius, in the heart of Istanbul’s historic tourist district.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a Syrian suicide bomber was believed to be responsible for the deadly attack.

“I condemn the terror incident in Istanbul, assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin. Unfortunately we have 10 dead, including foreigners and Turkish nationals… There are also 15 wounded,” Erdogan said.

Istanbul authorities are investigating the incident and the type of the explosives used in the blast, the city governor’s office said.

The suicide bomber was identified as a Syrian born in 1988, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told a press conference, adding that most of the victims of the blast were foreigners.

https://www.rt.com/news/328603-turkey-istanbul-blast-square/

AT LEAST 10 KILLED, 15 WOUNDED IN SUICIDE BOMBING NEAR TOURISTS ON CENTRAL ISTANBUL SQUARE – MEDIA

At least six German citizens, one Norwegian and one Peruvian were injured in the blast, Dogan reported. Norway’s Foreign Ministry later confirmed that one Norwegian citizen was injured in the blast and is receiving treatment at a local hospital.

“It’s not a life-threatening injury,” Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Guri Solberg said.

There was a group of German tourists on the square at the time of the blasts, an official from a tour company told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The explosion took place on Sultanahmet Square. It occurred close to the Sultanahmet tram stop and Dikilitas, the Obelisk of Theodosius, in the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district.

At least 10 killed, 15 wounded in suicide bombing near tourists on central Istanbul square – media

TURKEY ANGERED BY ROCKET-BRANDISHING ON RUSSIAN NAVAL SHIP PASSING ISTANBUL

Relations have deteriorated sharply since Turkey last week became the first NATO member in more than half a century to down a Russian plane, which it said had violated its airspace while flying sorties over Syria. The pilot was killed.

The NTV news channel broadcast photographs that it said showed a serviceman brandishing a rocket launcher on the deck of the landing ship Caesar Kunikov as it passed on Saturday through the Bosphorus Strait, which bisects the city of Istanbul. It said the ship was believed to be en route to Syria.

Turkey Angered by Rocket-brandishing on Russian Naval Ship Passing Istanbul

Istanbul ISIS Supporter Assassinated By Kurdish Militants In Retaliation For Monday’s Bloody Suruc Bombing

Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility for the assassination of an Istanbul supporter of the Islamic State group, local media outlets reported Thursday. The attack came as fighting between Kurdish and Islamic State militants in Syria was threatening to spill over into neighboring Turkey

http://www.ibtimes.com/istanbul-isis-supporter-assassinated-kurdish-militants-retaliation-mondays-bloody-2021576

ISTANBUL ISIS SUPPORTER ASSASSINATED BY KURDISH MILITANTS IN RETALIATION FOR MONDAY’S BLOODY SURUC BOMBING

The man killed, Mursel Gul, a soap salesman, was shot late Wednesday night in a setup by members of a group affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district. Police said Gul was shot four times as he delivered an order of soap to the perpetrators, who posed as salesmen. In a statement, the PKK’s youth wing said it had been tracking Gul for at least three months.

http://www.infowars.com/istanbul-isis-supporter-assassinated-by-kurdish-militants-in-retaliation-for-mondays-bloody-suruc-bombing/