Istanbul bomber entered Turkey from Syria as a migrant: PM

Amateur footage was captured in the Sultanahmet tourist area of police rushing in to help the wounded – with one police vehicle overturning on the way there.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said Wednesday that one person has been arrested in connection with the deadly blast.

He said close to 200 extremists were “rendered ineffective” – the phrase used by the Turkish government to mean killed – in the 48 hours since the terror attack. “He had an innocent face and was wearing modern clothes”, she said.

According to Turkish authorities, the individual guilty of the Istanbul bombing was a man of Syrian origin born in 1988.

The Satya family from Palmerston North say they are “counting their lucky stars”.

Turkish authorities have blamed the Istanbul attack on the terrorist group ISIS – although Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday, somewhat mysteriously, that ISIS had not been the primary actor.

Russia’s Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya said three Russians had been detained over suspected connection to Islamic State, Russian state news agency RIA said.

He also said 11 people had been killed in the attack, that’s one more than the figure released Tuesday.

“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.

Anadolu said at least 13 people were hurt, but the private Dogan news agency put the injury toll at 39.

Turkish Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag said that authorities were working to identify people connected to the attacker.

German and Turkish officials already planned to meet in Berlin next week to discuss Europe’s migrant crisis.

Security forces have also detained 74 suspected ISIL members across the country. Ten other people were detained in Turkey’s third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya.

German Foreign Ministry Deputy spokeswoman Sawsah Chebli told reporters on Wednesday that the number of German citizens killed by the terrorist attack had increased to 10.

Almost 3,000 Russians, mostly from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, are believed to have gone to fight alongside IS militants in Syria.

The attack came a day after the suicide bomber set off the explosion in Istanbul.

Eleven people were still being treated for injuries sustained in the blast, including nine Germans, a Norwegian and a Peruvian national, officials said.

The Turkish Prime Minister accused Russian Federation of supposedly striking at civilian targets in Syria, the newspaper Vzglyad reports. “Your pain is our pain” Vatan newspaper said.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.