Bomb hits major Istanbul avenue, kills 6, wounds dozens

ISTANBUL — A weaponry exploded connected a fashionable pedestrian thoroughfare successful Istanbul connected Sunday, sidesplitting six people, wounding dozens and sending radical fleeing arsenic flames rose.

Footage posted online showed ambulances, occurrence trucks and constabulary astatine the country connected on Istiklal Avenue, a typically crowded thoroughfare fashionable with tourists and locals and lined with shops and restaurants. In 1 video, a large bang could beryllium heard and flames could beryllium seen, arsenic pedestrians turned and ran away. Social media users said shops were shuttered and the avenue closed down.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blast a “treacherous attack” and said its perpetrators would beryllium punished. In summation to the six dead, Erdogan said different 53 were wounded, according to accusation helium received from the Istanbul governor.

Turkey was deed by a drawstring of deadly bombings betwixt 2015 and 2017 by the Islamic State radical and outlawed Kurdish groups.

Five prosecutors were assigned to analyse the blast, state-run Anadolu quality bureau reported.

Turkey’s media watchdog imposed impermanent restrictions connected reporting connected the detonation — a determination that bans the usage of close-up videos and photos of the blast and its aftermath. The Supreme Council of Radio and Television has imposed akin bans successful the past, pursuing attacks and accidents.