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The Latest: 4 reported killed in Istanbul blast Apparent suicide bombing kills at least 5 in Istanbul shopping area
(about 1 hour later)
ANKARA, Turkey — The Latest on Turkish explosion (all times local): BEIRUT — An apparent suicide bombing Saturday at a popular shopping area in Istanbul killed at least five people and wounded others amid a wave of attacks by Kurdish and Islamic State militants that have rocked Turkey.
12:45 p.m. The blast targeted the city’s Istiklal Street, a major thoroughfare of international shopping outlets and restaurants that bustles with tourists on weekends. Five people had been confirmed dead and more than 20 wounded, Istanbul’s governor, Vasip Sahin, told the privately owned Dogan news agency.
Istanbul’s governor says one person who was severely wounded in the suicide attack in the city has died, raising the death toll to five. Vasip Sahin says the injured person died in hospital on Saturday following the explosion on Istanbul’s busiest pedestrian street. Images on social media showed police cordoning off the area. One video on Twitter purports to show the moment of the blast, with a bright flash going off amid a street filled with pedestrians.
___ There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but suspicion has undoubtedly fallen on Kurdish separatists who are waging a war in Turkey’s southeast.
12:10 p.m. Saturday’s attack further suggests that this conflict is spilling over into urban areas, with bombings targeting both Turkish soldiers and civilians in recent weeks.
Istanbul’s governor says four people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the city. The governor, Vasip Sahin, also says 20 people were injured injured, including three in serious condition. Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for a car bomb last week that struck a square of shops and restaurants in the capital, Ankara, killing at least 37 people. The Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, asserted responsibility for an attack Feb. 17 in Ankara that killed 28 Turkish soldiers.
11:50 a.m. Turkish armed forces also are waging cross-border strikes in Syria against the Islamic State group, which has carried out bombings in Turkey in recent months. One of those attacks killed more than 100 people in the capital at a Kurdish peace rally in October.
The private Dogan news agency says at least three people have been killed in the explosion on a busy pedestrian street in Istanbul. The agency said 10 people were injured and taken to hospitals. News reports say the explosion is believed to be caused by a suicide bomber.
___
11:30 a.m.
An explosion on Istanbul’s main pedestrian shopping street on Saturday has injured at least two people, Turkish media reports say. The Dogan news agency says the attack is believed to be a suicide bombing and injured at least five people.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reports that ambulances were responding to the explosion on Istiklal Street, which is also home to cafes, restaurants and foreign consulate buildings. Private NTV television said the explosion occurred outside a shopping mall.
The explosion comes as Turkey is on edge following two recent suicide bomb attacks in the capital, Ankara which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group, that is an off-shoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
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