Suicide blast hits Istanbul

At least 15 wounded in explosion carried out by suicide bomber in heart of Turkish city, police say.

31 Oct 2010

At least 15 people have been injured in an attack carried out by a suspected suicide bomber in the Turkish city of Istanbul, police say.

There were also unconfirmed reports of at least two people being killed in the incident on Sunday.

"We think it was a suicide attack," Huseyin Capkin, the police chief, said.

He said six of the injured were civilians and nine were police. Two of the wounded were in a serious condition.

The alleged bomber was said to have blown himself up close to where the police were stationed in Taksim Square in the heart of the city's shopping district.

"One one side of the square, usually a series of police buses are parked, on guard for any kind of civil disorder. The target of this explosion appears to have been one of two buses," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from the scene, said.

"Eyewitnesses I've spoken to said they saw at least two bodies being carried away, so at least two people may have been killed."

She said some buildings around the square had been damaged in the blast.

Following the blast, a security cordon was thrown round the area and the nearby Istiklal street was closed off for pedestrians.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2010/10/2010103185656175601.html.