*UPDATE* At least ten people have been killed in Istanbul Square, Turkey, after a suspected ISIS suicide bomber detonated a device.
It is reported that a 28-year-old Syrian national approached a group of tourists visiting Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul this morning and set off the explosion.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, revealed the details just hours after the explosion this morning, according to the Irish Mirror.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a news conference:
“By now we have to assume that also Germans have been injured in this terror attack.
“We also can’t exclude that Germans are among the dead.
The area was sealed off by Turkish police this morning at around 10:20am shortly after members of the public were forced to flea the area following a large explosion.
Sultanahmet after explosion… pic.twitter.com/6m5Aelt2CV
— ÇapaMag in English (@CapaMagENG) January 12, 2016
Suicide bomber strikes Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square, the heart of city's tourist district https://t.co/fS86rdxwly pic.twitter.com/b1wMJL4uAn
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 12, 2016
'Several killed' in an explosion in a tourist district of Istanbul https://t.co/PtUYxtVKWS pic.twitter.com/3n8QFLQKQO
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 12, 2016
Turkish police have sealed off Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district following a large explosion.
Several people are said to be injured in the blast which occured on Tuesday morning in the popular tourist spot.
While the cause of the explosion is not yet known, reports of a suicide bomber are surfacing, according to Sky News.
Private NTV television said the explosion was close to a park that is home to a landmark obelisk.
Turkey suffered two major bombing attacks last year, with more than 30 people were killed in an Islamic State suicide attack in the town of Suruc, near Turkey’s border with Syria, in July.
Emergency services are at the scene.
This is a breaking news story – updates to come.
İstanbulda partlayış – Çoxlu sayda ölü və yaralı var – Video https://t.co/X77iysBZPa #Turkiye #Turkey #Istanbul pic.twitter.com/QvZH9PKWqo
— Faktxeber.com (@Fakt_Xeber) January 12, 2016
