4 people killed in Turkey suicide bomber attack
A suicide bomber hit a busy tourist area in central Istanbul on Saturday, killing at least four people, Turkish media reported.
An additional 20 others were wounded in the attack. Police cordoned off Taksim Square as helicopters flew overhead and multiple ambulances gathered at the site.
Stunned shoppers ran away from the scene, some in tears. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack comes nearly a week after a car bomb ripped through a busy square in the capital of Ankara on March 13.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons — or TAK, a militant offshoot of the Kurdish separatist group, PKK — boasted that it was behind that bombing, which killed 37 people. The group said on its website Thursday that its militants struck “in the heart of (the) fascist Turkish republic.”
The PKK, or Kurdistan Worker’s Party, seeks an independent state in Turkey, and has been in an armed struggle with the government for decades. The United States and EU have designated both it and the TAK as terrorist organizations.
A ceasefire between the PKK and Turkey fell apart last summer, after which Turkey bombed the terror group’s positions in northern Iraq while also imposing curfews in crackdowns on heavily Kurdish areas on southeastern Turkey.
Some residents have accused Turkey of unfair collective punishment, saying security forces have acted with impunity and killed civilians.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons specifically have been tied to a number of horrific attacks on their own.
This includes a February bombing targeting military vehicles in central Ankara that killed 28 people.
The TAK called that attack “revenge” for Turkish military actions and threatened more violence — warning foreigners, especially, to stay away from Turkey.
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