ISTANBUL: A car bomb ripped through a crowd in the heart of Istanbul on Saturday, wounding around 20 police officers, the interior minister said, quoted by the official Anadolu news agency.

The bomb, apparently targeting police, exploded outside the stadium of Istanbul football club Besikstas following its match against Bursaspor.

“Nearly 20 people are wounded,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

“The wounded are police officers.”

Witnesses said police were deployed and had cordoned off the area as smoke rose from the newly built Besiktas Stadium.

They said gunfire could be heard in what appeared to have been an armed attack on police.

The private NTV channel said the target of the attack was a bus for riot police.

Images broadcast on television showed more than a dozen ambulances on a street hugging the stadium and a police helicopter flying overhead with its search lights on.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin had been notified, the agency said.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2016