TURKEY

Suspected suicide attack rocks Istanbul high street

At least four people have died and 20 others have been injured in an explosion in Istanbul's shopping district in northwestern Turkey. Local media believe the explosion was a suicide bombing.

The attack took place on Istiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian street in Istanbul, at around 11 a.m. local time (1200 UTC) on Saturday. Istanbul's governor Vasip Sahin said four people died in the attack and 20 others were injured, three of them seriously.

DW foreign correspondent in Istanbul Tom Stevenson said police cordoned off much of the street soon after the blast and helicopters were heard overhead.

Saturday's explosion came just hours after five people were arrested over last Sunday's car bomb attack in Ankara in which 37 people died. Authorities found that a woman, who had links to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, was responsible for the blast.

ksb/jlw (Reuters, AFP, dpa)