Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to key eventsSkip to navigation

Istanbul blast: nine of the 10 killed were German, reports claim - as it happened

This article is more than 8 years old
  • Istanbul governor says 10 people killed and 15 wounded
  • Bomber reportedly identified from body parts as Syrian born in 1988
  • Broadcast ban imposed
  • PM Davutoğlu chairs security meeting
  • Read the latest summary
 Updated 
in London and in New York
Tue 12 Jan 2016 12.34 ESTFirst published on Tue 12 Jan 2016 04.26 EST

Live feed

Key events

What we know so far

  • Turkey’s president Erdoğan has blamed a suicide bomber who entered the country through Syria for an attack on a tourist site in Istanbul that killed 10 people and left another 15 wounded.
  • Nine of the victims were German according to Turkish officials. In a telephone call Prime minster Ahmet Davutoğlu told the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that most of the victims were German.
  • One victim was Peruvian, foreign minister Ana María Sánchez told reporters, though she said the man had not yet been identified. She also said a Peruvian woman was wounded in the attack but in stable condition.
  • Merkel said she was very concerned that German citizens were “probably” be among the victims. “International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face,” she said.
  • Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmuş, said the bomber was a 28-year-old man from Syria, though an unconfirmed report claims the bomber came from Saudi Arabia.
  • Officials said they believed the attack on the Sultanahmet area was the work of the Islamic State militants. No group has claimed responsibility so far.
  • Police sealed off the area near the Blue Mosque. A broadcast ban was also imposed.
  • Britain, the US, EU and Nato were condemned the attack. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, described it as “brutal terrorist attack”, and the American official heading the fight against Isis said the US will “Stand with the people of Turkey in our common fight”.

That’s it for now. There will be more reports and analysis on the Guardian’s Turkey section.

The suicide bombing in one of Istanbul’s most touristed districts has frightened visitors, AFP reports, with many planning to cut their vacations short.

This is the first time that I’ve been afraid for my life while on holiday,” said French tourist Nathalie Julien.

“I can’t believe this is happening here, in the heart of Istanbul. It’s like you get invited to someone’s house, treated really well and, all of a sudden, get attacked,” she said.

Czech couple Zdenek and Eva, both 60, said they were planning to spend a lazy afternoon in the neighbourhood when they heard the huge blast that sent people screaming and running for cover.

“I came to Istanbul many times before and always thought it was a very safe place, but it seems nowhere is safe anymore,” he said.

Adrienn Martin, a 28-year-old student from Hungary, considered herself lucky to have opted to visit the Grand Bazaar with her boyfriend instead of hanging around Sultanahmet Square, where her hotel is located.

“It’s quite shocking. Two days ago we were sitting at the same spot where the explosion happened,” she said. “It really got my nerves, seeing ambulances around, when I was expecting a memorable day.

“I’m terrified. It could have been us,” she said.

The pair of Peruvians have not yet been identified, Peruvian foreign minister Ana María Sánchez has told reporters. My colleague Sam Jones reports:

María Sánchez told reporters that the man is thought to have been traveling in Turkey and to have registered at a hotel.

The minister said the woman had received medical treatment, adding that her life was no longer in danger.

“We still haven’t established the exact identities of the two,” said Sánchez. “The embassy is doing all the checks. We’ll identify them and then we’ll tell their families.”

Night falls on Istanbul, where emergency personnel and cleaners continue to work in Sultanahment, the historic district bombed earlier today.

An ambulance arrives at the scene in the Sultanahment district, Turkey. Photograph: Ashley Barwick/Demotix/Corbis
Tourists walk backdropped by the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, better known as the Blue Mosque, in the historic district. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

One Peruvian killed, one injured

Peru’s foreign ministry has confirmed reports that a Peruvian man was killed in the bombing and a Peruvian woman injured, according to Reuters.

Nine victims were German, according to Turkish officials, and at least 15 people were wounded in all. Prime minister Ahmet Davotoglu said that most of the wounded are foreign.

Share
Updated at 

Turkish police have detained 16 suspects in Ankara, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency news, citing police.

A Turk and 15 Syrians were preparing a high-profile attack, according to police. The Turkish suspect, identified by police as the group’s leader, was seized in a cafe in Tunali Hilmi, a busy shopping street in the capital. Other arrests took place in Polatli, Cubuk and Sincan districts.

Last month, police arrested two suspects accused of plotting a New Year’s Eve attack in Istanbul, and as noted by the Sabah’s Ragıp Soylu (translated by Buzzfeed’s Mike Giglio), raids have been increasing ever since an October bombing killed 103 people.

.@ragipsoylu notes Turkish police have been conducting repeated raids on ISIS suspects across the country. many detailed on his timeline

— Mike Giglio (@mike_giglio) January 12, 2016

The suicide bomber believed responsible for the attack was not on Turkey’s list of suspected militants, and thought to have entered the country recently, deputy prime minister Nman Kurtulmus has said.

Per Reuters, Kurtulmus said thousands of people are being tracked but the suspected bomber was not one of them.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was carried out “by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin”. Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “We have determined that the perpetrator of the attack is a foreigner who is a member of Daesh,” per AFP’s translation.

Officials earlier said the bomber was a Syrian national born in 1988.

In a news conference in Berlin, German chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would not waver in fighting terrorism. “Today it hit Istanbul, it has hit Paris, it hit Tunisia, it had already hit Ankara,” she said.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a televised broadcast, prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu has blamed Islamic State and reiterated that all the victims foreign, Reuters reports.

Most of the victims were German, Davutoglu said, adding that he had spoken with chancellor Angela Merkel to express condolences. Most of those wounded were also German, he added.

Speaking in Ankara in comment broadcast on television, Davutoglu vowed that Turkey would find those linked to the bomber and punish them and said that its fight against Islamic State would continue.

Share
Updated at 

What we know so far

Here’s a round up of what we know so far:

  • Turkey’s President Erdoğan has blamed a suicide bomber of Syrian origin for an attack on a tourist site in Istanbul that killed 10 people and left another 15 wounded.
  • Nine of the victims were reportedly from Germany according to unconfirmed briefings from Turkish officials. In a telephone call Prime minster Ahmet Davutoğlu told the German Chancellor Angela Merkel that most of the victims were German.
  • Merkel said she was very concerned that German citizens were “probably” be among the victims. “International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face,” she said.
  • Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmuş, said the bomber was a 28-year-old man who was born in Syria. But there has been an unconfirmed report the the bomber was from Saudi Arabia.
  • Officials said they believed the attack on the Sultanahmet area was the work of the Islamic State militants. No claim of responsibility has been yet been made.
  • Police sealed off the area near the Blue mosque. A broadcast ban was also imposed. Images of the aftermath, widely circulated on social media, showed dead bodies and body parts in Sultanahmet Square.
  • Britain, the EU and Nato were among those expressing condemnation. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, described it as “brutal terrorist attack”.
    Nato’s general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, said all Nato members stand united with their fellow member Turkey.

That’s it for now. There will be more reports and analysis on the Guardian’s Turkey section.

Germany has yet to confirm reports that nine of the 10 victims were German. It is also unclear whether the death toll figure of 10 includes the suicide bomber.

Earlier Merkel condemned the attack, according to her spokesman.

“International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today,” Steffen Seibert quoted the chancellor as saying.

Kanzlerin #Merkel zu #Istanbul: Der internat. Terrorismus zeigt sich wieder einmal mit seinem grausamen und menschenverachtenden Gesicht.

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) January 12, 2016

Nine victims were German

At least nine of the victims of the Istanbul attack were Germans, according to AP citing a Turkish official.

Earlier in a telephone call, Prime minster Ahmet Davutoğlu told the German Chancellor Angela Merket that most of the victims were German, Today’s Zaman reports.

#UPDATE Davutoğlu talks to Merkel on phone, says most of #İstanbul blast victims German https://t.co/AIL94ASA87 pic.twitter.com/lKIiLhGUTb

— Today's Zaman (@todayszamancom) January 12, 2016
Share
Updated at 

Today’s suicide bomb attack in Istanbul is the latest in a spate of recent attacks against tourists by Islamic militants in the Middle East and North Africa.

Other attacks targeting tourists:

Egypt 8 January 2016

Two Austrians and a Swede were stabbed in an attack on a hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada. Two suspected Islamic State militants armed with knives were shot dead in the attack. Earlier in the day Isis claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel in Cairo in which no one was hurt.

Egypt 31 October 2015

A Russian airliner from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg was bought down by a bomb over the Sinai desert killing all 224 people on board. Russia’s FSB security service said investigators had concluded from traces of explosives in the wreckage that an improvised bomb had caused the crash. A group linked to Isis claimed responsibility.

Sousse, Tunisia 26 June 2015

An Islamist gunman killed 37 people in an attack on a beach in front of hotels in the Tunisian resort of Sousse. The dead included 30 British, as well as German Belgian and Tunisians tourists attack on

Tunis, Tunisia 18 March 2015

Three terrorists from the Islamic State group stormed the Bardo National Museum, in the capital Tunis killing 21 people and sparking a three-hour siege. Of those killed 19 were tourist including five from Japan, four from Italy, three from France, two from Colombia, and two from Spain.

Merkel: Germans were probably among victims

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Chancellor Angela Merkel said German citizens were probably killed in the attack. “We are very concerned that German citizens could be and probably will be among the victims,” she told a news conference.

At a separate news conference German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “By now we have to assume that also Germans have been injured in this terror attack.”

He added: “We also can’t exclude that Germans are among the dead.”

Share
Updated at 
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

Syrians in Istanbul fear a backlash against them following the Turkish government’s claim that the suicide bomber was a 28-year-old from Syria, writes Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.

Ahmad, a be-speckled engineer from the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, has been living with his wife in Turkey for two years.

Waiting for a tram at Eminono station south of the scene of the bomb blast he said: “People will be blaming all the Syrians, they don’t know that we have been running away from those same people who are doing the bombing for years.

Ahmad said: “It’s like a nightmare that we can’t wake up form , wherever we go the bombs and war follows us, now turkey our last refuge will be closing its doors.”

His wife added: “It has already closed them”.

Most viewed

Most viewed