ISTANBUL: Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism”.

Pakistan strongly condemned the heinous ‘terrorist attack’ and said it firmly stood by the people of Turkiye in the fight against the scourge of terrorism.

Ambulances raced to the scene on the packed Istiklal Avenue, which police had quickly cordoned off. The area, in the Beyoglu district of Turkiye’s largest city, had been crowded as usual at the weekend with shoppers, tourists and families.

The blast sent debris into the air and left several people lying on the ground, while others fled.

Some four hours after the blast, Vice President Fuat Oktay and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu visited the site of the explosion. Oktay said the number of injured was 81 and re-iterated six people died in the explosion.

“We will resolve this matter very soon,” Oktay told reporters.

Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul that the “efforts to defeat Turkiye and the Turkish people through terrorism will fail today just as they did yesterday and as they will tomorrow”. “Our people can rest assured that the culprits behind the attack will be punished as they deserve,” he said, adding that initial information suggested “a woman played a part” in it.

“It would be wrong to say this is undoubtedly a terrorist attack but the initial developments and initial intelligence from my governor is that it smells like terrorism,” he added.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast. Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, militants and other groups, including in a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016.

Footage showed people attending to victims after the blast, and later investigators in white outfits collecting material from the scene, where pieces of a concrete planter were scattered on the avenue.

“When I heard the explosion, I was petrified, people froze, looking at each other. Then people started running away. What else can you do,” said Mehmet Akus, 45, a restaurant worker on Istiklal.

“My relatives called me, they know I work on Istiklal. I reassured them,” he said.

A helicopter flew above the scene and a number of ambulances were parked in nearby Taksim Square. The Turkish Red Crescent said blood was being transferred to nearby hospitals.

Vice President Oktay said: “We are evaluating it as an act of terror.”

If confirmed, it would be the first major bomb blast in Istanbul in several years.

Twin bombings outside an Istanbul soccer stadium in December 2016 killed 38 people and wounded 155 in an attack claimed by an offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Condemnations of the attack and condolences for the victims rolled in from several countries including Greece, Egypt, Ukraine, Britain, Azerbaijan, Italy and Pakistan.

On Twitter, European Council President Charles Michel sent condolences to victims after the “horrific news”.

President, PM condole loss of lives

President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday expressed their condolences to Turkiye over the loss of precious lives in Istanbul blast.

On his Twitter handle, the prime minister expressed his deep anguish over the explosion at Istiklal Avenue, Istanbul, and conveyed condolences to the brotherly people of Turkiye on part of the government of Pakistan and its people. The prime minister also prayed for the speedy recovery of those who had been injured in the explosion.

“I have learnt with deep anguish about the explosion at popular Istiklal Avenue in the heart of Istanbul. Govt & people of Pakistan express deepest condolences to the brotherly people of Turkiye at the loss of precious lives & send prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he posted in a tweet.

President Alvi strongly condemned the explosion and expressed solidarity with the government and people of Turkiye over the incident. He said that they shared grief with the people of Turkiye. He said that terrorism was a collective issue of the world.

The president prayed for the departed souls and for the bereaved families to bear the loss with fortitude, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release. He also prayed for the quick recovery of the injured people.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former president Asif Ali Zardari and National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker also condemned the blast.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2022