Terror and Mayhem in Turkey and The Killing of Civilians
It is shocking and utterly disgusting the mayhem and killing of 15 innocent people in Istanbul, Turkey.
ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- The death toll from two deadly explosions in Turkey continued to rise early Monday as government officials confirmed 15 deaths and more than 150 injuries.
An injured woman and a child are taken away in an ambulance in Istanbul.
An injured woman and a child are taken away in an ambulance in Istanbul.
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Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler called the blasts "an act of terror," and said the devices were placed 15 meters (49 feet) from each other. The first was a stun grenade that was detonated to draw attention before the second blast went off, he said. One bomb had been placed in a trash can.
Guler said police have launched an investigation into who is responsible for the blasts. No claim of responsibility had been issued late Sunday.
The blasts happened within 10 minutes of each other in Istanbul's crowded Gungoren community about 10 p.m., Zafer Karakoc, who witnessed the explosions, told CNN Turk. Karakoc is a journalist with Turkish news agency DHA.
Dozens of firefighters and paramedics were on the scene, and several bloodied people were driven off in ambulances afterward. Glass and debris were strewn all over the brick sidewalks, and shop windows were blown out. See a map of Istanbul »
A few bodies were covered in blankets as ambulances arrived. Journalists on the scene reported seeing body parts around the square, which is closed to vehicle traffic and a central place where tourists and residents gather in the evenings.
About 150 people were taken to hospitals, said Hayati Yazici, assistant to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The first blast drew people to the scene for the second explosion, increasing the number of casualties, he said.
Authorities asked residents to evacuate the heavily pedestrian, working class Gungoren neighborhood within an hour of the blast, reporters told CNN.
"This is just the type of neighborhood that ordinary people live in," journalist Andrew Finkel told CNN.
Earlier this month, at least six people, including three police officers, were killed in a shootout near the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. Two other police officers were wounded. Video Watch footage of the scene »
Meanwhile, Turkey -- a candidate for the European Union -- has pushed its anti-terror campaign on multiple fronts.
Tensions between Turkey and Kurdish rebels have been on the rise as Istanbul has stepped up its campaign against the Kurdistan Workers Party in response to increased attacks by the group. The rebels, known as the PKK, have waged a decades-long battle for an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey's
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/27/turkey.violence/index.html
Istanbul governor says blasts are "terror attack"
27 Jul 2008 20:45:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
ISTANBUL, July 27 (Reuters) - Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said on Sunday that two explosions in Turkey's financial capital Istanbul were a terrorist attack.
"It is certain that this is a terror attack", Guler told reporters at the explosion site in a busy commercial district of the city.
Istanbul bombs kill 15 on eve of political case
27 Jul 2008 23:03:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Thomas Grove
ISTANBUL, July 27 (Reuters) - Bombs killed 15 people and wounded around 140 in Istanbul late on Sunday, just hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.
Officials said one loud blast brought people into the streets of a busy shopping and eating area, then a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded 10 minutes and 50 metres away, tearing through the crowds.
"This is a terror attack," city governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene, in a pedestrian street where families gather in the evenings to dine, sip tea and stroll, well away from the city's tourist sites.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest attack in Turkey since 2003.
Television showed ambulances taking away the wounded in the middle-class Gungoren district of Turkey's biggest city, near the main airport. Among the rubble and glass of broken shop windows, men carried away the wounded and children cried.
"First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container," Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told reporters.
One witness said: "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms, were flying in the air."
"I condemn those who carried out this bombing, which shows us terrorism's inhumane desire for cruelty and violence without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children," President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.
An official at the Istanbul governor's crisis centre told Reuters the death toll had now reached 15 and 137 people were injured, some seriously. Television stations put the injuries as high as 150.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay told CNN Turk television 15 people died and 15 were in critical condition.
DETENTIONS REPORTED
Turkish newspaper Zaman reported on its website that three people had been detained in connection with the blasts.
Forensic teams were examining the scene of the blasts and police were now investigating the security cameras in the area.
"I heard the blast and I came running, people were running the other way to get away. As I approached I saw a huge black cloud coming out of the street. I saw about 10 bodies lying down on the ground," Ercan Usta, who owns a cafe nearby, told Reuters.
Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamists have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.
Turkey, which is seeking European Union membership, has been plunged into political and economic uncertainty by a court case over banning the ruling party that begins on Monday.
The Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, will deliberate on whether the AK Party has engaged in Islamist activities and should be closed. The party denies the charges. A ruling is expected in early August.
Tensions have also been rising over a widening police investigation into a suspected ultra-nationalist group accused of seeking to overthrow the AK Party government. So far 86 people have been arrested, including well-known critics of the government.
Governor Guler said the "heinous attack" in Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, was not a suicide bombing.
In Gungoren, on the European side, residents hung the red and white Turkish flag out of their homes after the bombs.
Earlier this month three Turkish police and three gunmen were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul.
The most serious attacks in recent years were in 2003, when 62 people were killed by Islamist militants targeting two synagogues, a bank and the British consulate in Istanbul.
State news agency Anatolian reported a failed suicide attack on a police station in Bingol province in southeast Turkey. One of the attackers was killed, one wounded and one escaped. (Reporting by Selcuk Gokoluk; Writing by Richard Meares and Paul de Bendern)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L7485579.htm
TERROR IN ISTANBUL
At least 13 killed in double explosions in Istanbul
Sunday, July 27, 2008
explosion in Istanbul
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Two consecutive explosions in Güngören district of Istanbul, a busy shopping center,
killed at least 13 people and injured around 70 others, Muammer Güler Istanbul Governor announced late Sunday.
“It’s a terror attack,” Güler told reporters. He said it was still early to estimate who was behind the explosion. But the private NTV said the security forces estimate that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, could carry out such a terrorist attack.
The first bomb, left in a bin, exploded around 21.55 p.m. local time which was followed by another one 15 minutes later, increasing more death tolls. The victims were killed by the second explosion as the first explosion in a telephone kiosk brought people out onto the street.
The images broadcast by NTV showed scenes of panic, with people covered in blood and disoriented as they ran from the area of the blasts, littered with debris and shattered glass. Teams of firefighters and emergency workers were dispatched to the scene and police established a security perimeter.
Two weeks ago, three police officers and three assailants were killed in an exchange of fire outside the US consulate in Istanbul. Güler said the police was investigating a possible link between the two incidents.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/
Bombs strike Istanbul neighborhood, killing 15
More than 150 were injured by the explosives, placed in trash cans
STANBUL, Turkey - Two bombs exploded minutes apart in a packed Istanbul square Sunday night, killing 15 and injuring more than 150 in what the city governor said was a terror attack.
Many were injured in the second blast after they rushed to the area to help the casualties of the first explosion in the working class Gungoren neighborhood, witnesses said. The blasts were about 10 minutes apart.
The explosions came just hours ahead of a court case over banning the ruling party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25874541
Bombs Blast Istanbul Neighborhood, Killing At Least 14
Why Sunday's Bombings Could Help Erdogan
By Jürgen Gottschlich in Istanbul
Sunday's terror attack in Istanbul hit Turkey at a particularly critical juncture. The country's highest court is expected to rule soon on the legality of the prime minister's Islamist-rooted AKP party. But Erdogan himself stands to profit if the bloodbath leads the judges to issue a ruling that fosters national unity.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,568599,00.html
Twin blasts rock Istanbul
Reuters
Last updated: July 28, 2008, 12:03
Istanbul: The death toll in two bomb blasts in Istanbul rose to 17 on Monday in an attack that sharply increased tension as Turkey's top court began deliberating on whether to ban the governing party.
The toll rose when one person died from wounds sustained in the Sunday evening blasts in a working class neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul, Governor Muammer Guler said. Five of the dead were children, he said.
More than 150 people were wounded, with 50 people being treated in hospital, including six in a serious condition.
"We have been fighting terror for 30 to 35 years. This fight will continue until we win it," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told local residents at the site of the blasts. "Today is a day for unity," he said.
Ruthlessness
Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said in a statement: "The attacks, which were staged in a crowded street at a busy hour and without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children, showed once again the gory face, ruthlessness and despair of terrorism."
In the emotionally charged aftermath of the bombings, the Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, began deliberating on whether the AK Party had engaged in Islamist activities and should be closed. The party denies the charges and a ruling is expected in early August.
The court case is linked to a long-running power struggle between Turkey's secularist establishment and the Islamist-rooted AK Party, which are at odds over the direction of the officially secular but predominantly Muslim country.
"Our problem is not whether or not the AK Party will be closed. Our problem at the moment is to keep our unity so our country will go in a different direction," Erdogan said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks, the deadliest in Turkey since 2003. But police were increasingly looking at the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
"There are signs of links to the separatist group. Work continues on that," Guler said.
Three detained
The PKK condemned the attack, the Firat news agency, which is close to the guerrillas, said on its website.
Newspapers said three people had been detained in connection with the attacks.
The site was still cordoned off yesterday and police were not allowing people into the area other than shop owners.
Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamist militants have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union, has waged a deadly campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey since 1984. But it usually does not target civilians.
"We know the killers," Sabah newspaper said in a headline above a picture of bodies strewn across a busy pedestrian area in Gungoren, near Istanbul's main international airport, where two bombs, minutes apart, tore through the crowds.
Officials said a first blast brought people into the streets and a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded ten minutes later just 50 metres away.
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Turkey/10232418.html
Funeral Pictures
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080728/ids_photos_wl/r1520345345.jpg/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391861,00.html
http://news.aol.com/article/bombs-kill-16-in-istanbul-neighborhood/102592
ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- The death toll from two deadly explosions in Turkey continued to rise early Monday as government officials confirmed 15 deaths and more than 150 injuries.
An injured woman and a child are taken away in an ambulance in Istanbul.
An injured woman and a child are taken away in an ambulance in Istanbul.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler called the blasts "an act of terror," and said the devices were placed 15 meters (49 feet) from each other. The first was a stun grenade that was detonated to draw attention before the second blast went off, he said. One bomb had been placed in a trash can.
Guler said police have launched an investigation into who is responsible for the blasts. No claim of responsibility had been issued late Sunday.
The blasts happened within 10 minutes of each other in Istanbul's crowded Gungoren community about 10 p.m., Zafer Karakoc, who witnessed the explosions, told CNN Turk. Karakoc is a journalist with Turkish news agency DHA.
Dozens of firefighters and paramedics were on the scene, and several bloodied people were driven off in ambulances afterward. Glass and debris were strewn all over the brick sidewalks, and shop windows were blown out. See a map of Istanbul »
A few bodies were covered in blankets as ambulances arrived. Journalists on the scene reported seeing body parts around the square, which is closed to vehicle traffic and a central place where tourists and residents gather in the evenings.
About 150 people were taken to hospitals, said Hayati Yazici, assistant to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The first blast drew people to the scene for the second explosion, increasing the number of casualties, he said.
Authorities asked residents to evacuate the heavily pedestrian, working class Gungoren neighborhood within an hour of the blast, reporters told CNN.
"This is just the type of neighborhood that ordinary people live in," journalist Andrew Finkel told CNN.
Earlier this month, at least six people, including three police officers, were killed in a shootout near the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. Two other police officers were wounded. Video Watch footage of the scene »
Meanwhile, Turkey -- a candidate for the European Union -- has pushed its anti-terror campaign on multiple fronts.
Tensions between Turkey and Kurdish rebels have been on the rise as Istanbul has stepped up its campaign against the Kurdistan Workers Party in response to increased attacks by the group. The rebels, known as the PKK, have waged a decades-long battle for an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey's
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/27/turkey.violence/index.html
Istanbul governor says blasts are "terror attack"
27 Jul 2008 20:45:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
ISTANBUL, July 27 (Reuters) - Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said on Sunday that two explosions in Turkey's financial capital Istanbul were a terrorist attack.
"It is certain that this is a terror attack", Guler told reporters at the explosion site in a busy commercial district of the city.
Istanbul bombs kill 15 on eve of political case
27 Jul 2008 23:03:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Thomas Grove
ISTANBUL, July 27 (Reuters) - Bombs killed 15 people and wounded around 140 in Istanbul late on Sunday, just hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.
Officials said one loud blast brought people into the streets of a busy shopping and eating area, then a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded 10 minutes and 50 metres away, tearing through the crowds.
"This is a terror attack," city governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene, in a pedestrian street where families gather in the evenings to dine, sip tea and stroll, well away from the city's tourist sites.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest attack in Turkey since 2003.
Television showed ambulances taking away the wounded in the middle-class Gungoren district of Turkey's biggest city, near the main airport. Among the rubble and glass of broken shop windows, men carried away the wounded and children cried.
"First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container," Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told reporters.
One witness said: "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms, were flying in the air."
"I condemn those who carried out this bombing, which shows us terrorism's inhumane desire for cruelty and violence without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children," President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.
An official at the Istanbul governor's crisis centre told Reuters the death toll had now reached 15 and 137 people were injured, some seriously. Television stations put the injuries as high as 150.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay told CNN Turk television 15 people died and 15 were in critical condition.
DETENTIONS REPORTED
Turkish newspaper Zaman reported on its website that three people had been detained in connection with the blasts.
Forensic teams were examining the scene of the blasts and police were now investigating the security cameras in the area.
"I heard the blast and I came running, people were running the other way to get away. As I approached I saw a huge black cloud coming out of the street. I saw about 10 bodies lying down on the ground," Ercan Usta, who owns a cafe nearby, told Reuters.
Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamists have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.
Turkey, which is seeking European Union membership, has been plunged into political and economic uncertainty by a court case over banning the ruling party that begins on Monday.
The Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, will deliberate on whether the AK Party has engaged in Islamist activities and should be closed. The party denies the charges. A ruling is expected in early August.
Tensions have also been rising over a widening police investigation into a suspected ultra-nationalist group accused of seeking to overthrow the AK Party government. So far 86 people have been arrested, including well-known critics of the government.
Governor Guler said the "heinous attack" in Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, was not a suicide bombing.
In Gungoren, on the European side, residents hung the red and white Turkish flag out of their homes after the bombs.
Earlier this month three Turkish police and three gunmen were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul.
The most serious attacks in recent years were in 2003, when 62 people were killed by Islamist militants targeting two synagogues, a bank and the British consulate in Istanbul.
State news agency Anatolian reported a failed suicide attack on a police station in Bingol province in southeast Turkey. One of the attackers was killed, one wounded and one escaped. (Reporting by Selcuk Gokoluk; Writing by Richard Meares and Paul de Bendern)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L7485579.htm
TERROR IN ISTANBUL
At least 13 killed in double explosions in Istanbul
Sunday, July 27, 2008
explosion in Istanbul
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Two consecutive explosions in Güngören district of Istanbul, a busy shopping center,
killed at least 13 people and injured around 70 others, Muammer Güler Istanbul Governor announced late Sunday.
“It’s a terror attack,” Güler told reporters. He said it was still early to estimate who was behind the explosion. But the private NTV said the security forces estimate that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, could carry out such a terrorist attack.
The first bomb, left in a bin, exploded around 21.55 p.m. local time which was followed by another one 15 minutes later, increasing more death tolls. The victims were killed by the second explosion as the first explosion in a telephone kiosk brought people out onto the street.
The images broadcast by NTV showed scenes of panic, with people covered in blood and disoriented as they ran from the area of the blasts, littered with debris and shattered glass. Teams of firefighters and emergency workers were dispatched to the scene and police established a security perimeter.
Two weeks ago, three police officers and three assailants were killed in an exchange of fire outside the US consulate in Istanbul. Güler said the police was investigating a possible link between the two incidents.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/
Bombs strike Istanbul neighborhood, killing 15
More than 150 were injured by the explosives, placed in trash cans
STANBUL, Turkey - Two bombs exploded minutes apart in a packed Istanbul square Sunday night, killing 15 and injuring more than 150 in what the city governor said was a terror attack.
Many were injured in the second blast after they rushed to the area to help the casualties of the first explosion in the working class Gungoren neighborhood, witnesses said. The blasts were about 10 minutes apart.
The explosions came just hours ahead of a court case over banning the ruling party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25874541
Bombs Blast Istanbul Neighborhood, Killing At Least 14
Why Sunday's Bombings Could Help Erdogan
By Jürgen Gottschlich in Istanbul
Sunday's terror attack in Istanbul hit Turkey at a particularly critical juncture. The country's highest court is expected to rule soon on the legality of the prime minister's Islamist-rooted AKP party. But Erdogan himself stands to profit if the bloodbath leads the judges to issue a ruling that fosters national unity.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,568599,00.html
Twin blasts rock Istanbul
Reuters
Last updated: July 28, 2008, 12:03
Istanbul: The death toll in two bomb blasts in Istanbul rose to 17 on Monday in an attack that sharply increased tension as Turkey's top court began deliberating on whether to ban the governing party.
The toll rose when one person died from wounds sustained in the Sunday evening blasts in a working class neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul, Governor Muammer Guler said. Five of the dead were children, he said.
More than 150 people were wounded, with 50 people being treated in hospital, including six in a serious condition.
"We have been fighting terror for 30 to 35 years. This fight will continue until we win it," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told local residents at the site of the blasts. "Today is a day for unity," he said.
Ruthlessness
Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said in a statement: "The attacks, which were staged in a crowded street at a busy hour and without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children, showed once again the gory face, ruthlessness and despair of terrorism."
In the emotionally charged aftermath of the bombings, the Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, began deliberating on whether the AK Party had engaged in Islamist activities and should be closed. The party denies the charges and a ruling is expected in early August.
The court case is linked to a long-running power struggle between Turkey's secularist establishment and the Islamist-rooted AK Party, which are at odds over the direction of the officially secular but predominantly Muslim country.
"Our problem is not whether or not the AK Party will be closed. Our problem at the moment is to keep our unity so our country will go in a different direction," Erdogan said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks, the deadliest in Turkey since 2003. But police were increasingly looking at the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
"There are signs of links to the separatist group. Work continues on that," Guler said.
Three detained
The PKK condemned the attack, the Firat news agency, which is close to the guerrillas, said on its website.
Newspapers said three people had been detained in connection with the attacks.
The site was still cordoned off yesterday and police were not allowing people into the area other than shop owners.
Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamist militants have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union, has waged a deadly campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey since 1984. But it usually does not target civilians.
"We know the killers," Sabah newspaper said in a headline above a picture of bodies strewn across a busy pedestrian area in Gungoren, near Istanbul's main international airport, where two bombs, minutes apart, tore through the crowds.
Officials said a first blast brought people into the streets and a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded ten minutes later just 50 metres away.
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Turkey/10232418.html
Funeral Pictures
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080728/ids_photos_wl/r1520345345.jpg/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391861,00.html
http://news.aol.com/article/bombs-kill-16-in-istanbul-neighborhood/102592
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