10 killed, 15 injured in Istanbul blast

On Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said the number had risen to 10.

One suspect with a link to the attack was detained in Istanbul late on Tuesday, said interior minister Efkan Ala. Besides the 10 killed, 17 people were also wounded in the attack, with 11 of those still hospitalized as of Wednesday morning.

The attack Tuesday struck Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, which is popular with tourists.

“The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way”, Ala told reporters in Istanbul alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.

De Maiziere said there were no indications Germans had been deliberately targeted and that he saw no reason for people to change travel plans to Turkey.

In comments published in the Turkish media on Wednesday, a tour guide who had been accompanying the group of German tourists said the bomber “was a young bearded man who looked like a Turk”.

He said Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war had become a barrier to Turkish air strikes against Islamic State, and that the Russian air force appeared to be protecting the radical militants.

The bomber, identified as Nabil Fadli, a 28-year-old Saudi-born Syrian national, gave his fingerprints at an immigration centre in Istanbul on January 5 and was allowed to move freely in the days before the bombing.

“Given how much time the Islamic State has had to administer explosives training in Raqqa, Mosul, and elsewhere, the group is likely not running low on bomb-makers or suicide mission volunteers”, the firm said.

“Though Turkish intelligence, security offices are doing their best 24/7 fighting with ISIS, it is not easy for any country, for any intelligence service, for any security measures to stop all attacks”, said one official in the Turkish prime minister’s office.

De Maizière had travelled to the Turkish city specifically to assess the situation after the terrorist attack.

Stating that around 12 million tourists visit the city per year, Davutoglu said every type of measure against terror would be taken to make the city even safer.

Police on Wednesday removed a cordon preventing access to the area of the attack, which was quickly thronged by media and some tourists, an AFP correspondent said.

The day after a suicide bomb left 10 people dead and wounded 15 others in the heart of Istanbul’s central tourist district, organizations and countries worldwide continue to offer Turkey their support while condemning those responsible.

“All of the recent attacks took place when Turkey increased attempts to stop the flow of IS fighters”, said assistant professor Kilic Bugra Kanat of Penn State University, Erie.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

They are suspected of having links to Islamic State but it is unclear if there is a direct link to the Istanbul bombing.

Germany and Denmark have warned their citizens to avoid crowds outside tourist attractions in Istanbul.

Turkey has been on alert for attacks since an October double suicide bombing killed more than 100 people at a gathering of peace activists outside a train station in the capital, Ankara.

The suspect was detained late on Tuesday, Ala said during a news conference with his German counterpart.