Turkish Deputy PM Says Kurdish Militant PKK May Be Behind Istanbul Attack
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Sunday that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) may be behind the attack that killed 29 people and wounded 166 outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul.
In comments broadcast on CNN Turk, Kurtulmus also said that countries offering messages condemning the bombing should also show solidarity with Turkey's fight against terrorism, Reuters reported.
"The arrows point at the PKK. It is clearly a planned event. There will be an announcement once the investigations are over. We cannot say anything definite for now," Kurtulmus said.
Twenty-nine people, mostly police officers, were killed and 166 wounded in Saturday's twin bombings in Istanbul, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in a press conference Sunday.
The explosions, one large blast followed by a smaller one, occurred about 11 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET) after a heavily attended football game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena.
According to Soylu, a remote control detonated a car bomb for the explosion. Shortly afterward, a suicide bomber caused a second explosion at Macka Park. The two locations are less than a mile apart.
No group has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings but Daesh and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have staged attacks in Turkey over the past year.
