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Updated: 20.22
A FEMALE SUICIDE bomber killed herself and a Turkish policeman in a strike on the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district, the second attack on police to shake city within a week.
The government denounced the bombing as a “heinous terror attack” against the “new Turkey” under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said only the bravery of police had prevented a higher toll.
The attack came five days after a member of an outlawed Marxist radical group DHKP-C attacked police on guard outside the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul on the Bosphorus.
There was no immediate official indication of a link between the two attacks. But some Turkish media reports said the suicide bomber was a young woman in her mid-twenties who was a member of the DHKP-C.
The woman went into the police station in the Sultanahmet district and told the police in English she had lost her wallet before setting off her explosives, governor Vasip Sahin said on Turkish television.
The Sultanahmet district, which is the home of world famous attractions including the Blue Mosque and Aga Sophia museum, is visited by thousands of Turkish and foreign tourists every day.
One policeman was badly wounded and died of his wounds in hospital, the official Anatolia news agency reported.
A second policeman was lightly wounded. Both were staffing a tourist police post intended to assist tourists with questions and problems.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the bravery of the police for potentially preventing further casualties.
“The bravery of our security forces who sacrificed themselves prevented there being an even larger toll,” he said.
Davutoglu said a major investigation was underway to determine which organisation could be behind the attack but refused to speculate further.
“The widest investigation is to be undertaken to determine which organisation could be connected to the attack,” he said in televised comments.
Sahin said the woman had posed as a tourist when she approached police in the early evening rush.
“She approached the police at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), saying in English: ‘I have lost my wallet’. That’s all I can say. We are trying to identify the attacker,” said Sahin.“The female bomber lost her life. She has staged the attack by detonating the bomb on her.”
Emergency services rushed to the scene and the city tram line that runs through the district was halted.
Davutoglu said two more explosive charges had been found on the corpse of the suicide bomber.
They were blown up in a controlled explosion by bomb experts, shattering nearby windows, according to Turkish news reports.
Turkey is on a high security alert amid the crises in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State jihadists have seized swathes of territory on the Turkish border.
Western countries have accused Turkey of not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadists through its borders but Ankara insists it has now stepped up frontier security.
Istanbul has been the scene of several bomb attacks in recent years, most notably the November 2003 attacks on two synagogues, the British consulate and a bank that left dozens dead.
Originally published: 16.44
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There is an adjoining report that Harris states that ‘you can’t pitch a tent anywhere you want’.
I have a question: when these tents are distributed, are those they are given to told where they can be pitched?
I have another: is there anywhere where they can be pitched that is acceptable to the government?
And who is paying for these tents anyway?
The government, via ‘charities’, on behalf of the taxpayer?
The government, which then destroys those tents within hours of distributing them?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: they are pitched up in Milltown now making camp.
@Sean Money: @Sean Money: Do you know if there is anywhere these can be pitched that is acceptable to the authorities?
If not, then why are these being distributed?
Are our government departments really *that* disfunctional?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: exactly they are in cahoots with the tent makers, millions spent on tents now
See this ffg governments will never and I mean never stop pollution of everything for profit ,
@Robert Halvey: Bet they sell the fish too!!
Slurry, I suppose. Farmers, I suppose.
The reason it was only reported yesterday is because nobody works the weekend
I don’t see pike on the list. Probably being killed off by the angling clubs. They kill pike all over Ireland seemingly with the blessing of the IFI. Taking out the predators leaves weak and sick fish to spawn. In turn making the fish sizes smaller in the rivers. You don’t take a predator out of a habitat
@Michael o Dwyer: it’s not the clubs killing them off, it’s the international fishing folk who clean out the rivers and lakes of every fish they get their hands on, no matter the size . They are a plague
@Michael o Dwyer: It’s more likely that it’s just a narrower river that doesnt contain pike. Of which there are many around the country
Pharmaceutical waste !
@sakk sa: irish water chemical leak at the water plant, either chlorine or fluoride
Hopefully the carcasses can be salvaged for food or even pet animal feed.
have your say