PM says Turkish artillery hit IS positions in Iraq, Syria

Windows were blown off and shop shutters were folded in from the force of the blast.

Turkish officials have said the suicide bomber who carried out the attack in the tourist district of Sultanahmet in Istanbul was affiliated with IS. A total of five people have been detained in connection with the blast investigation.

The German tour group had gathered in a square near the picturesque Blue Mosque for a day of sightseeing when the man approached them and detonated his explosives.

Ala said nine other Germans were wounded in the blast, two of them still in a serious condition in hospital, along with one Norwegian and one Peruvian.

Turkey’s prime minister says authorities have detained four more suspects as part of the investigation into the suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed 10 Germans.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said during a visit to Istanbul Wednesday: “According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, and so there can’t be a connection to our contribution to the fight against global terrorism”.

De Maiziere said he sees “no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey” and no reason for people already there to break off their trips.

“The style of the attack, a suicide bomber, and the (target), a group of tourists, suggests a jihadist attack”, a Western diplomat told AFP. The Islamic State group, however, hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attack. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.

Turkey is now hosting around 2.2 million refugees who have fled the fighting in Syria, and Davutoglu was quick to warn against seeing all migrants as potential extremists, which he said would be playing into the hands of the “terrorists”. The refugee crisis has at times overwhelmed European leaders, who have pledged to give Turkey$3 billion to help stem the human tide from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa and other parts of the world.

“The link between the suicide bomber and Daesh has been confirmed”. “Turkey continues to view (IS) as a lesser evil”.

Turkey’s Haberturk newspaper published what it said was a CCTV image of the bomber, identified in some local media reports as Saudi-born Nabil Fadli, at an immigration office in Istanbul on January 5. Visa allowances are also likely to get restricted and borders securities tightened as the operation was blamed on Islamic State.

British cooperation with Turkey to defeat Islamic State (IS) is being stepped up in the wake of the attack on Istanbul that killed ten German tourists.

Despite major media being blocked at the scene, Tourism industry in Turkey is predicted to suffer from the recurrent attacks on tourist spots those past years.

The premier said Turkey was determined to dislodge IS jihadists fully from the Syrian border, which analysts says they have controlled for much of previous year.

The Russians were detained in the Turkish city of Antalya and are suspected of providing logistical support to the Islamic State, the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday.

But officials said it was hard to prevent every attack.

“I am telling you loud and clear: We will definitely respond to such attacks against us when required”, Davutoglu noted. “And we won’t do that now, either”.

“Border security has been tightened, arrests on domestic IS support networks have occurred, and Turkey is pursuing a strategy to try to drive IS out of the remaining northern border areas in Syria”.