ISTANBUL // At least 10 people were killed and 15 wounded when a large explosion rocked central Istanbul on Tuesday, the Istanbul governor’s office said.
A witness said there were body parts at the scene in the historic Sultanahmet square, a major tourist attraction.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation, but state-run TRT television said it was likely caused by a suicide bomber.
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.
Erdem Koroglu, who was working at a nearby office at the time of the explosion, told NTV television he saw several people lying on the ground following the blast.
“It was difficult to say who was alive or dead,” Mr Koroglu said. “Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion.”
Turkey suffered two major bombing attacks last year.
More than 30 people were killed in an ISIL suicide attack in the town of Suruc, near Turkey’s border with Syria, in July.
Two suicide bombs in October outside Ankara’s main train station as people gathered for a peace rally killed more than 100 people. It was Turkey’s deadliest attack. The prosecutor’s office said the attack was carried out by a local ISIL cell.
* Agencies
