US condemns ‘heinous’ attack in Istanbul

The Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Turkey is determined to battle Isis – which is being held responsible for the attack – until it no longer “remains a threat” to the country or the world.

Turkish police detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with ISIS following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 tourists, it has been reported.

Islamic State has targeted Turkey in the past, with two bombings previous year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group.

Price called the bombing a “heinous attack”, adding that “our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of all those who have been killed and with those injured”. Ankara has also been accused of covertly backing radical opposition groups operating in northern Syria that have been fighting Islamic State jihadists and Kurds.

Senior Research Analyst at Euromonitor International Kinda Chebib, a London-based market intelligence firm, said the attack is expected to “impact negatively on inbound flow to Turkey on the short-to-medium term”.

 Witnesses told CNN Turk they heard a loud blast and saw a huge flame close to the Obelisk of Theodosius in the square; according to some reports, it was heard several kilometres away.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country was the “top target for all terrorist groups in the region,” via the BBC.

Meanwhile a source from the office of the Turkish Prime Minister said on condition of anonymity that nine Germans were among the dead in the Sultanahmet area.

The Istanbul governor’s office says the explosion at the city’s historic Sultanahmet district has killed least 10 people. A Norwegian and a Peruvian were also reportedly wounded.

Mrs Merkel said: “Today Istanbul was hit; Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before”. Among the dead were a number of German tourists. “Worldwide terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face”.

“Investigations into the cause of the explosion, the type of explosion and perpetrator or perpetrators are underway”, it said in a statement quoted by the “Dogan news agency” after the blast in the Sultanahmet neighborhood.