German tourists among ten killed – IS blamed for Sultanahmet Square attack

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The bodies of victims lie on the ground near the city’s landmark Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Blue Mosque just after an explosion at Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district
The bodies of victims lie on the ground near the city’s landmark Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Blue Mosque just after an explosion at Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district

ISTANBUL, Jan 12, (Agencies): A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday, in an attack Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed on Islamic State. Meanwhile, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing his condolences and sympathy over the victims of the blast.

Wishing speedy recovery for the injured, His Highness the Amir reiterated Kuwait’s strong denunciation and condemnation of the “criminal act” that targeted souls of innocent people, saying it contradicts heavenly religions and human values. His Highness the Amir expressed Kuwait’s support to all the measures Ankara takes to counter such acts of terrorism that target the Republic’s security and stability.

His Highness the Amir renewed Kuwait’s unwavering stance that rejects all forms of terrorism, and backs the international community’s fight against it. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cable of condolences to the Turkish President.

All of those killed in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia — major tourist sites in the centre of one of the world’s most visited cities — were foreigners, Davutoglu said. A senior Turkish official said nine were German, while Peru’s foreign ministry said a Peruvian man also died. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria but was not on Turkey’s watch list of suspected militants. He said earlier that the bomber had been identified from body parts at the scene and was thought to be a Syrian born in 1988.

Davutoglu said he had spoken by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer condolences and vowed Turkey’s fight against Islamic State, at home and as part of the US-led coalition, would continue. “Until we wipe out DAESH, Turkey will continue its fight at home and with coalition forces,” he said in comments broadcast live on television, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. He vowed to hunt down and punish those linked to the bomber. Several bodies lay on the ground in the square, also known as the Hippodrome of Constantinople, in the immediate aftermath of the blast. It was not densely packed at the time of the explosion, according to a police officer working there, but small groups of tourists had been wandering around.

“This incident has once again shown that as a nation we should act as one heart, one body in the fight against terror. Turkey’s determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end,” President Tayyip Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara. Norway’s foreign ministry said one Norwegian man was injured and was being treated in hospital. Turkey, a NATO member and candidate for accession to the European Union, is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State fighters who have seized territory in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, some of it directly abutting Turkey.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants, who are battling Ankara in southeast Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. “We heard a loud sound and I looked at the sky to see if it was raining because I thought it was thunder but the sky was clear,” said Kuwaiti tourist Farah Zamani, 24, who was shopping at one of the covered bazaars with her father and sister

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