Sunday November 13, 2022
Emergency personnel respond to an explosion on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 13, 2022.Francisco Seco / AP
Istanbul (HOL) - Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said that he "strongly condemns the despicable terrorist attack" on Sunday that killed six people and wounded at least 81 others.
President Mohamud sent his sincere condolences to the blast victims and expressed "Somalia's support and solidarity with the Turkish people in their fight against terrorism."Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condolences and wished victims a speedy recovery.
"The Federal Republic of Somalia reaffirms its position of solidarity with the Turkish people, rejects all forms of violence and terrorism, and calls for unity in draining its financial, military and ideological resources.
Istanbul's famed Istiklal street remained cordoned off on Sunday evenings after busy shoppers were sent into a panic when an explosion rocked the shopping district.
Video footage obtained by Reuters captured the moment the explosion occurred at 4:13 p.m.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan maintained a defiant attitude during a press conference at Ataturk Airport before travelling to Bali in Indonesia for the 17th G20 summit.
"Our injured were swiftly transported to nearby hospitals." Relevant elements of our state are still working to identify the perpetrators of this terrible attack and the groups behind it. Terrorist attempts to take over Turkey and the Turkish nation will not succeed today or tomorrow as they did yesterday. Let our country know that the offenders will be punished appropriately by investigating all the circumstances leading up to and around the Istiklal Street event."
Turkish authorities attributed a March 2016 suicide attack on the same street to ISIS, but President Erdogan was reluctant to point the finger at any specific group, saying that the bomb attack "smells like terrorism."
"Of course, at this moment during the initial investigation, it would be incorrect to claim for certain that terrorism is involved, but preliminary developments and information provided by the first governor indicate that it smells like terrorism.."
Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay shared similar sentiments when he visited the blast site on Sunday evening and told reporters at Taksim Square that a female attacker is believed to have detonated the bomb.
It would be the first major terror attack in Turkey in several years if confirmed.
During the press briefing, he told reporters that the number of injured increased from 53 to 81 and re-iterated six people died in the explosion.
The Turkish media regulator and supervisory authority RTük imposed a news ban restricting the use of close-up videos and photos of the explosion despite the news circulating widely on popular social media platforms.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blast. Istanbul and other Turkish cities have been targeted in the past by Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and other groups, including in a string of bombings between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead.
The PKK., a Kurdish militant organization, claimed responsibility for twin bombings outside an Istanbul soccer stadium in December 2016 that killed 38 people and wounded 155. The PKK has been labelled a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the US.It would be the first major terror attack in Turkey in several years if confirmed.