Turkey detains 3 Russians in raid aimed at ISIS

But the deputy prime minister said most of the dead were foreigners.

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

Ala added that 2,894 people from 92 countries have been deported, 94 of the deported were from Germany.

Turkish authorities have said a 28-year-old Syrian national carried out the attack in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, a main tourist hub.

The blast also killed a Peruvian man and wounded another 15 people, including nine Germans and two Peruvians, according to Turkish media.

Following the attack, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu openly blamed ISIS and said that the attacks would not stop Turkey from participating in strikes against the Islamic state. He said Germany stood resolutely by Turkey’s side in the fight against terrorism.

Turkish authorities have in recent weeks detained several suspected ISIS members with officials saying they were planning attacks in Istanbul.

Davutoglu immediately convened a security meeting with the country’s interior minister and other officials.

Tuesday’s bombing came as the Islamic State faces increasing pressure from an worldwide military coalition – of which Turkey and Germany are members – that has accelerated attacks on the group’s oil infrastructure and has recently driven it from one of its key cities in Iraq. Ten people were killed and 15 wounded.

He said the large blast, which could be heard several kilometres away, took place at around 10:15am (0815 GMT) in Sultanahmet, home to the Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque, both major tourist attractions on the European side of the metropolis.

It also expressed its condolences to the victims, their families and Turkish people.

“The US condemns in the strongest terms today’s terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey”, Ned Price, spokesman for the White House national Security Council, said in a statement. The Islamic State group, however, hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attack. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group.

Turkey has become a target for the IS, with two bombings past year blamed on the radical Sunni group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. “I thought it (the sound) was unusual and looked around”, she said, quoted by Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper.