During the morning rush hour, a bus carrying a group of riot police was remotely detonated.
The car bombing killed 11 people, including seven police officers and four civilians. Another 36 people were injured and three were critically injured.
The blast occurred around 8:40 a.m. local time in the Beyazit neighborhood of Istanbul’s historic Faith district.
The area surrounding the bombing included Beyazit Square, the Main Istanbul University campus, and the Vezheciler Metro Station. After the blast, all of these locations were evacuated. Images taken after the blast show visible damage to surrounding buildings with windows blown out and glass across the street.
Four people have been detained in connection with the car bombing. This incident follows many that have occurred within the last couple months. In March, a car bomb detonated near a bus stop in the capital, Ankara, killed 37. An ISIS suicide bomber detonated himself six days earlier that killed four. A month later another incident killed 28 in a blast target military vehicles. These two bombings were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
“Let me be clear, terrorist organizations distinguishing between civilians, soldiers and police does not mean anything to us. The end target is always human beings,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president some wounded in the hospital as well.
Tuesday’s car bombing occurred during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the attackers and told reporters, “they are the enemy of human values.”
Featured Image via Pixabay
