Suicide attack hits Turkish capital, 32 wounded

ISTANBUL: A suicide bomb ripped through crowds of shoppers and cafe-goers in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, wounding 32 people.

The blast targeted riot-police patrolling the busy Taksim Square, the heart of the Turkish economic capital, police chief Huseyin Capkin said.

Capkin said none of the injured was in critical condition and the only fatality was the bomber, who blew himself up before reaching his intended target.

“He tried to get into a police bus but didn’t succeed,” he said. Turkish television showed footage of police taking away the lifeless body of a man from the scene, as well as dazed and injured people receiving first aid.

Analysts quoted by television stations said it was likely that the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had carried out the attack.   The PKK said on September 30 that it had decided to extend its truce by one month, an announcement taken to mean it would expire on October 30.

Murat Karayilan, a top commander of the banned PKK, last week said the PKK would no longer target civilians and wanted to extend an “indefinite unilateral truce” if the government demonstrates “a commitment to dialogue”.

Footage showed police and ambulances rushing to the scene. Police immediately threw a security cordon around the area, and streets, including the pedestrian-only historic Istiklal Avenue, were closed off, the CNN-Turk and NTV channels reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2010.