Blast outside Istanbul stadium killed 13, say police sources

A suspected car bomb outside an Istanbul football stadium on Saturday killed at least 13 people, police sources said.

Broadcaster NTV said 38 people had been wounded but gave no details of any death toll. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu earlier said around 20 people had been wounded and that there was no immediate information on any deaths.

Two witnesses told Reuters they had heard two blasts outside the Vodafone Arena, which lies on the edge of the Bosphorus in central Istanbul and is home to the Besiktas football team. A Reuters photographer said many riot police officers were seriously wounded.

“It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque,” said Omer Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque.

“People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible,” he told Reuters.

Armed police sealed off streets around the stadium. A police water cannon doused the wreckage of a burned out car and there were two separate fires on the road outside the building.

Broadcaster NTV said the explosion targeted a police vehicle that was leaving the stadium after fans had already dispersed.

“I condemn the cruel terror attack in Istanbul. Those attacking our nation’s unity and solidarity will never win,” Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said on Twitter. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan also described it as a terrorist attack.

President Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Istanbul at the time of the explosion, had been in contact with the chief of Istanbul police and the prime minister and was following developments closely, sources in his office said.

Turkey has been hit by a series of bombings in recent years, some blamed on Islamic State militants, others claimed by Kurdish and far-leftist militant groups.

In June, around 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded when three suspected Islamic State militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

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