At Least 38 Dead, 150 Wounded in Istanbul Two bombs exploded outside soccer stadium in major Turkish cityBy Margaret Coker
ISTANBUL—Turkey declared a day of mourning after two suicide bombers killed at least 38 civilians and police officers deployed to guard a Saturday evening match by Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer team.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts that occurred two hours after the game outside the team’s stadium on one of Istanbul’s major waterfront thoroughfares and urban parks. But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Sunday that evidence suggested the blasts were the work of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey, the U.S. and Europe deem a terrorist group.
Turkey has been rocked by several terrorist bombings this year by attackers believed to be members of Islamic State and by splinter groups of the PKK, which has been fighting for decades against Turkish security forces for autonomy in the country’s Kurdish-majority southeastern regions.
The Interior Ministry said early Sunday that at least 13 people had been detained in relation to the weekend bombings that also wounded more than 150.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the nation in a televised address that Turkey would fight “the scourge of terrorism to the end,” and promised that the attackers would pay a “heavy price.”
Most spectators had already left the sleek Vodafone Arena when the blasts occurred around 10:30 local time Saturday night. Large numbers of police routinely assigned to the normally sold-out matches remained in the area, however, as did many die-hard fans enjoying the unusually mild late autumn weather.
The force of the explosions shook buildings almost a half mile away from the stadium along the heavily traveled road that leads from Istanbul’s waterfront road to Taksim Square, and could be heard across the Bosporus, according to witnesses.
The first attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a group of riot police who had assembled on the west side of the stadium to wait for transport back to their barracks.
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