Post-soccer celebrations in the center of Istanbul turned into devastating bloodshed, when two blasts killed 38 people and injured 166 others.
Locals were leaving the Vodafone Arena soccer stadium in Besiktas – located in Turkey’s capital – after a match between the country’s top teams, when the two bombs were detonated, one by suicide bomb and the other a car bomb.
Turkey’s Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, said 30 of 38 victims were police offers. Several of the injured were taken to intensive care while others were sent for immediate surgery.
Terror tonite in most vulnerable place in #Istanbul #Turkey, football stadium ==> now this will be the new expectation, death at stadiums pic.twitter.com/rASuHLHy8j
— Murat Koprulu (@mkopNY) December 11, 2016
Police detained 10 people immediately after the bombings and believe a police bus located outside the stadium was the target of the attack, ABC News reported.
Kurdish militant group, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) – an off-branch of the Kurdish Working Party (PKK) –, have claimed responsibility for the attack, which prompted Turkish citizens to host a small protest outside the stadium where they lay flowers and shout “down with the PKK”.
Turkey’s President, Tayyip Erdogan, described the event as a terrorism on both public servants and citizens.
“As a result of these attacks unfortunately we have martyrs and wounded.”
Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s President
This is the ninth attack in Turkey this year, the fifth to take place in Istanbul.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) continues to advise Australians to exercise a ‘high degree of caution’ when visiting Turkey.
However, the government agency is urging Aussies to avoid affected areas including the football stadium in Besiktas and then nearby Macka Park.
