UPDATE: Report: bomber, exploded, next group of foreigners: German and French fatalities. At least 10 deaths.
UPDATE II Police catch female bomber about to blow just after 1st attack
Hebrew translation: Turkey bombing: at least eight people were killed in an attack in Central Istanbul.
פיגוע בטורקיה: לפחות שמונה הרוגים בפיגוע במרכז איסטנבול pic.twitter.com/7ExXzx1zG2
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 12, 2016
#BREAKING: #Istanbul: Initial reports suggest the victims are German and French tourists. No confirmation yet pic.twitter.com/oJx7R7anM9
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 12, 2016
Blast in central Istanbul tourist area leaves several killed
Istanbul – An explosion rocked a square in the heart of Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet tourist district on Tuesday and a police officer and witness at the scene reported seeing body parts after the blast.
Turkey’s Haberturk television reported that at least eight people were killed in the explosion.
The blast may have been caused by a suicide bomber, Haberturk said, without citing its sources. There was no official word on the case of the blast, which took place in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet square, a major tourist attraction in Turkey’s most populous city.
Ambulances rushed to the site in Sultanahmet square, close to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, in a major tourist area of Turkey’s most populous city, ferrying away the wounded as police cordoned off streets.
“We’re taking precautions against a second explosion,” the police officer said, ushering people out of the square.