PKK blamed for bombing of Istanbul bus that left 11 dead

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested in televised remarks that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind a bomb attack in central Istanbul today that left 11 people dead.

Eleven people, including seven police officers, were killed and 36 injured in a car bomb attack on a bus shuttle service carrying anti-riot police as it was passing through the central Beyazit district in Istanbul.

The remote-controlled bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, close to many of the city's top tourist sites, governor Vasip Sahin said in a live statement on Turkish television.

Thirty-six others were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.

Speaking to the media after visiting the injured at an Istanbul hospital, Mr Erdogan spoke of his intentions to “fight against terrorists relentlessly to the end”.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for today’s bombing, which occurred on the second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The metro station was closed as a security precaution and scheduled examinations at Istanbul University – which lies close to the scene of the blast – have been cancelled.

Pictures showed the bomb had turned the police vehicle into mangled wreckage and that nearby shops had their front windows smashed out by the force of the blast.

Cars parked in the vicinity were also damaged.

A Reuters witness saw what appeared to be two police vehicles hit, one of them on its side next to the road.

Gunshots were heard in the area after the blast, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey is on high security alert following multiple attacks on its soil, blamed on the PKK and ISIL.

Violence flared up last year between Kurdish rebels and government forces, shattering a 2013 ceasefire reached after secret talks between PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish state.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding an independent state for Kurds. Since then the group has narrowed its demands to greater autonomy and cultural rights.

With AFP.