policemen targeted: Car bomb injures some 20 in Istanbul

ISTANBUL: Around 20 police officers were injured in a car bomb explosion outside an Istanbul football stadium on Saturday, in the latest attack to rock Turkey this year. The car bomb blast struck the area outside Istanbul’s giant Besiktas football team’s stadium after a match against the Bursaspor club, targeting a bus packed with police officers, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. “A car packed with explosives is believed to have exploded where our riot squad was deployed shortly after the football fans dispersed following the match,” Soylu said. “The attack targeted the riot police’s bus,” the minister said, adding that nearly 20 police officers had been injured. An AFP correspondent in Istanbul heard the explosion followed by the sound of ambulance sirens rushing to the scene. State broadcaster TRT World showed images of the wreckage of a car, engulfed in flames with emergency services swarming around the scene outside the stadium. Other footage showed severely damaged police vehicles, while witnesses said the force of the blast had shattered the windows of several nearby homes.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2016.