Update/with videoAn explosion in the Turkish city of Istanbul yesterday killed six and injured 81. Two of them are in very bad shape. 22 people have been arrested, including the person who allegedly placed the explosive. According to the Turkish interior minister, the attack was carried out by the Turkish-Kurdish organization PKK.
Harmke de Vries, Raymond Boere
Latest update:
07:13
“According to our findings, the PKK terror organization is responsible,” said Suleyman Soylu. The order for the attack is said to have been given in the northern Syrian city of Kobani, where Turkey has in the past conducted operations against the Syrian-Kurdish militia YPG.
Immediately after the explosion, videos surfaced showing a woman leaving something behind in the busy shopping street just before the bang. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that a woman was involved in the attack. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) is a guerrilla movement active in northern Iraq and is also seen as a terrorist group in Europe and the US.
‘Everyone started screaming and running’
The bomb went off in the popular shopping street Istiklal Street, near Taksim Square. That square is located in the European part of the Turkish metropolis. Dutchman Arnoud van Doorn, former councilor for the municipality of The Hague, was on his way to an appointment in the area when the explosion took place. ,,I’m completely shaken,” he said on the phone yesterday. “Something exploded about 30, maybe 50 meters from me. It was unreal, everyone started screaming and running.”
As he told his story, ambulances and helicopters could be heard in the background. An ambulance worker wanted him to go to hospital, but Van Doorn refused. “I have minor injuries. It could have been much worse. Thirty seconds later and I hadn’t been there. I had the best luck in the world today.”
Get out
Ricardo Hinderiks (24) from Deventer was also shocked when he heard the huge bang with his mother. He couldn’t see the explosion itself, but immediately saw a lot of people running towards him. “Everyone ran. That was very weird. Our first reaction was also: get out of here. We fled into a store, but we soon had to leave because they were closing.”
Hinderiks was shopping with his mother for a day in the center. At 11 am they were already on Taksim Square. They wanted to have something to eat in the center, but that didn’t happen when the bomb went off around half past four. After the attack, Hinderiks quickly managed to get a taxi that took them to the hotel. ,,They were all full, but we were lucky that two people happened to get out in front of us. I’m glad we don’t have anything. An hour before the attack, we were also standing at the spot where the bomb went off.”
Watch Erdogan’s speech here:
Ban
Emergency services cordoned off the entire area yesterday. Photos and videos are circulating on social media showing a huge amount of havoc. State broadcaster TRT reported that people are being urged to avoid the area. Shortly afterwards, the Turkish media regulator announced a temporary ban on further reporting to avoid panic among the inhabitants of the metropolis.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it currently has no indications that Dutch people have become victims of the explosion. They are in contact with the local authorities about this. More than 50 of the more than 80 injured have now been discharged from hospital.
Turkey was hit by a series of deadly bombings by the Islamic State (IS) and exiled Kurdish groups between 2015 and 2017. Istanbul was also the target of several attacks.
no football
Many shopkeepers in the Beyoglu district, where the street is located, closed their shops after the attack. Football club Besiktas, where Dutchman Wout Weghorst plays, canceled Sunday evening’s game.
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