 Turkish police officers check a blast site in Istanbul, Feb. 13. A huge blast, believed to be caused by a bomb, rocked a supermarket in Istanbul on Monday, wounding 15 people, local media reported.(Xinhua/Reuters photo) |
ANKARA, Feb. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A
huge blast, believed to be caused by a bomb, rocked a supermarket in Istanbul on
Monday, wounding 15 people, local media reported.
Police sources were quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency
as saying that two of the wounded were in critical condition.
Earlier, local authorities put the figure of the wounded at
six.
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler was quoted by Anatolia as saying that an investigation into the cause of the blast was currently underway, adding "it seems to be caused by a device that exploded."
 A badly wounded man in a supermarket explosion in Istanbul is rushed to the hospital. (Xinhua/AFP photo) |
Meanwhile, Istanbul Police Chief
Celalettin Cerrah said that there was no surveillance camera system at the
supermarket and that the blast occurred at the deposits section of the shop on
late Monday, according to the report.
The entrance of the two-storey
supermarket, located in the Bahcelievler district of Istanbul which is Turkey's
largest city and popular tourism destination, was badly damaged, added there
port.
Earlier, the private NTV cited Guler as accusing Kurdish militants of carrying
out the attack.
The incident came shortly after a Thursday bomb explosion at an Internet cafe in Istanbul, which killed one person and wounded about 15 others.
Istanbul also witnessed a series of
suicide bombings targeting British and Jewish interests in the city in November
2003. Some 60 people were killed in the attacks carried out by al-Qaida-linked
Turkish militants.
Kurdish rebel groups also launched bombing attacks in Turkey in
the past. Enditem