(Newswire.net — January 13, 2016) Istanbul, Turkey — Horrible scenes in Turkey after the latest series of terrorist attacks. In the heart of the tourist zone in Istanbul, at the central square of Sultanahmet, body parts are lying scattered.
A large fire broke out in a hotel in the Maltepe district in the suburb of Istanbul, it is still unknown whether the fire is connected with the attack.
According to the Turkish Hurriyet, the suicide bomber detonated the explosives near a group of tourists. Local media said that there were several explosions.
Most of the 10 people killed in the explosion on Monday morning in the center of Istanbul were Germans, said the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The suicide bomber was identified as a 27-year-old Syrian, said the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Numan Kurtulmus, at a press conference.
Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Syrian suicide bomber is responsible for this morning’s explosion.
“We have ten dead, including foreign and Turkish citizens. Also, 15 of them were wounded,” Erdogan said in a live speech on television.
Turkish security authorities believe that the Islamic State is behind the attacks, because it targeted tourists, reports Hurriyet.
The explosion wounded at least six Germans, one Norwegian and one Peruvian, reported the Turkish news agency Dogan.
The witnesses stated that they heard a loud explosion. Buildings were shaken by the force of the explosion. A woman who works in a nearby antique store, told Reuters that the explosion was very strong. “We ran out and saw body parts,” she said.
According to some local Turkey sources, the explosives were placed on one of the benches at the train station in the tourist zone, and activated by the suicide bomber.
Last year Turkey suffered two huge bombings. More than 30 people were killed near the Turkish border with Syria, in July of 2015 in the suicide bombing of the Islamic State.
In the second attack, the most fatal in Turkey, two suicide bombers killed more than 100 people during a peaceful rally in October of 2015, in front of the main railway station in Ankara.