A female suicide bomber blew herself up at a police station in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district yesterday, killing one officer and wounding another.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility; but the bombing comes less than a week after far-left group DHKP-C said it was behind a grenade attack on police near the prime minister’s office in Istanbul.
Turkey also faces possible threat from Islamist militants moving across the border from civil war torn Syria and Iraq and, despite a truce in a 30-year-old insurrection, from Kurdish rebels.
Police sealed off the street where Tuesday’s attack happened, across the square from the Aya Sofya museum and the Blue Mosque and near the Basilica Cistern, which are among the main sites for millions of visitors to Istanbul each year.
Windows were shattered and shutters hung unhinged from the yellow, three-storey tourist police station.
The woman entered the police station saying in English that she had lost her purse and then blew herself up, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told reporters at the scene. Her nationality and identity were unknown.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said one of the officers had died. It was not immediately clear whether the bomber had links to any particular group.
Turkish authorities have commenced investigations.
