Suicide bomber injures 22 in Turkey plaza
At least 22 people were injured Sunday by an apparent suicide bombing in the heart of Turkey’s premier city, Istanbul, Turkish media reported.
The 10:30 a.m. explosion struck Taksim Square, a vast transportation and commercial hub that is the city’s busiest node. The apparent targets were police officers at a law enforcement substation at the square’s northern end. At least 10 of those injured were police, and two of the wounded face life-threatening injuries.
Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said more bombs were found in the square, according to Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia news agency. Authorities barred all pedestrian and vehicular traffic to the square, popular with tourists, in case of more explosions.
In a statement broadcast on television, Capk?n described the attacker as a male suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his torso who died in the blast. Turkish television showed the apparent body of the attacker covered with newspapers.
“We think the attacker attempted to enter a police bus and detonate the bomb inside, but the explosives went off earlier,” Capkin was quoted as saying.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the trademarks of Al Qaeda and associated Islamic militants. Turkey last week announced the detention of a dozen suspected Al Qaeda members in Istanbul and the eastern city of Van.
Al Qaeda-inspired militants killed dozens in 2003 attacks on the British consulate, two synagogues and a bank.
Turkey has long fought an on-and-off war against ethnic Kurdish miltants in its southeastern provinces but has been negotiating with representatives of the insurgents, the Kurdistan Workers Party. A unilateral ceasefire by the group, known by the abbreviation PKK, expired this weekend.
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