On 19 March 2016, a
suicide bombing
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
took place in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
's
Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu (, ota, بكاوغلی, script=Arab) is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera (Πέρα, meani ...
district in front of the
district governor's office. The attack occurred at 10:55 (
EET
"Eet" is a song from Regina Spektor's fifth studio album, ''Far (album), Far''. It was released as the album's second official single in October 2009. In Europe it was released as a digital download on November 27, 2009.
Music video
A Viral vide ...
) at the intersection of Balo Street with
İstiklal Avenue
İstiklal Avenue ( tr, İstiklal Caddesi; en, "Independence Avenue"), historically known as the Grand Avenue of Pera ( Ottoman Turkish: ''Cadde-i Kebir''; el, Μεγάλη Οδός του Πέραν, Megali Odos tu Peran; french: Grande Rue d ...
,
a central shopping street.
The attack caused at least five deaths,
including that of the perpetrator. Thirty-six people were injured, including seven whose injuries were severe.
Among those injured were twelve foreign tourists.
Among those killed, two were of
dual
Dual or Duals may refer to:
Paired/two things
* Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another
** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality
*** see more cases in :Duality theories
* Dual (grammatical ...
Israel-US nationality.
On 22 March, the Turkish interior minister said that the bomber had links with
ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
.
Background
The bombing was the fourth suicide bombing in Turkey in 2016,
and occurred six days after a
bombing in Ankara that left 37 people dead. The United States embassy in Ankara had issued a terrorism warning to its citizens the day before the bombing for Istanbul, Ankara,
İzmir
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...
and
Adana
Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million.
Adana lies in the heart ...
. The German embassy had also issued a security warning to its citizens three days before the bombing. Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as M ...
had called the warnings "normal".
Germany had also closed its consulate on the avenue on Thursday and Friday as a security measure.
According to
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, residents of Istanbul had already been vigilant before the attack due to the recent explosion in Ankara and were wary of going out.
Following the bombing, according to ''
Cumhuriyet
''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pres ...
'', the Turkish government received heavy criticism on social media for defects in its security.
Attack
The bombing took place on İstiklal Avenue, a shopping area popular with tourists and considered the busiest avenue in Turkey.
However, the bombing took place at a time when the avenue was relatively quiet.
The site of detonation was a few hundred metres away from a place where police buses are usually parked.
According to an eyewitness, the bomber detonated the bomb whilst passing by a group of tourists.
Hundreds of people reportedly ran away from the site of attack in panic after the explosion. Nails and small pieces of metal were reportedly scattered in the area due to the attack.
Following the bombing, the avenue was closed off to the public.
According to a
CNN Türk
CNN Türk is a Turkish pay television news channel, launched on 11 October 1999 as the localised variant of American channel CNN. It broadcasts exclusively for Turkey and it is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Demirören Group. Its headquarte ...
reporter on the scene, the suicide attacker was on his way to the actual target when the bomb went off in front of a restaurant.
Another account from a Turkish official (cited by
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
) states the bomber was "deterred" from his or her actual target by the police and set off the bomb "out of fear". Initial findings pointed to Kurdish perpetrators.
Victims
Two of the killed victims were American-Israeli citizens, one was Israeli and one was Iranian.
One of the victims that died in the explosion was a child. Two of the tourists injured were also children.
Israeli authorities identified the three Israeli victims as Yonatan Suher (40 years old) from
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, Simcha Dimri (60) from
Dimona
Dimona ( he, דִּימוֹנָה, ar, ديمونا) is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south-east of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. In its population was . The Shi ...
, and Avraham Goldman (69) from Ramat Hasharon.
The Iranian fatalities were identified as Ali Razmkhah (dead) and Zhila Shariat, Azam Razmkhah and a 1-year-old, Diana Razmkhah, were injured.
The Başaran family from
Adana
Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million.
Adana lies in the heart ...
was among those injured in the blast. The family of four had come to Istanbul as tourists and were shopping and sightseeing in the Istiklal Avenue when the blast occurred. 2.5-year-old Asya Başaran was hit by a metal fragment in the head, whilst her mother, Çilem Başaran, was hit in the shoulder and the groin. They were both life-threateningly injured.
Perpetrator
While the authorities were quick to blame the
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK) given the
Ankara bombing in February,
only upon further investigation in the afternoon, the Turkish authorities changed their initial assessment, now instead holding the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL) accountable.
According to ''
Milliyet
''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey.
History and profile
''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...
,'' Turkish authorities never ruled out ISIL as suspects early on. According to the newspaper, the fact that the attack occurred near a group of tourists indeed suggested an ISIL involvement.
PKK umbrella organization
KCK said it opposed targeting civilians and condemned attacks on them.
The next day, Turkish authorities announced that Mehmet Öztürk was reliably identified by DNA tests to be the suicide bomber of the Istanbul attack. Born 1992 in
Gaziantep Province
Gaziantep Province ( tr, ) is a province in south-central Turkey. It is located in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region. Its capital is the city of Gaziantep. It neighbours Ad ...
and thought to be affiliated with ISIL,
he was one of two Turkish suspects the authorities were investigating. The day before, ''
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
'' had named Özturk and 33-year-old ISIL militant Savaş Yıldız from
Adana
Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million.
Adana lies in the heart ...
, who is also thought to be involved in the
October 2015 Ankara bombings killing more than 100 civilians. In the night, authorities arrested Yıldız' parents,
but they were released later. Öztürk had reportedly left his house in Gaziantep in 2013, and he was linked to ISIL by authorities after he was reported missing. He had reportedly visited his family one month before the attack. On 18 March, he bought a bus ticket to Istanbul from
Adıyaman
Adıyaman ( ku, Semsûr) is a city and district in southeastern Turkey, and the capital of the Adıyaman Province. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Kurdish.
Etymology
An unverified theory is that the former name of the city ''Hisn-Mansur'' ...
and arrived in Istanbul on the day of the attack in a bus he took from Adıyaman.
See also
*
January 2016 Istanbul bombing
On 12 January 2016, a suicide attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet, Fatih, Sultanahmet district killed 13 people, all foreigners, and injured 14 others. The attack occurred at 10:20 local time, near the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Blue Mosque a ...
*
February 2016 Ankara bombing
The February 2016 Ankara bombing killed at least 30 people and injured 60 in the capital of Turkey. According to Turkish authorities, the attack targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying both civilian and military personnel working at the militar ...
*
March 2016 Ankara bombing
The March 2016 Ankara bombing killed at least 37 people and injured 125. Of the 125 individuals who suffered injuries, 19 of them were seriously harmed. Several buildings were also damaged during the event, and a bus and many cars were reporte ...
*
List of Islamist terrorist attacks
The following is a list of Islamist terrorist attacks.
1940s
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2001-2010 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011-2020 2011
2012
2013
2014
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2016
2017
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*
List of terrorist incidents, January–June 2016
This is a list of terrorist incidents which took place in 2016, including attacks by violent non-state actors for political motives. Note that terrorism related to drug wars and cartel violence is not included in these lists. List of ongoing milit ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Istanbul bombing, 2016 03
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
2016 murders in Turkey
Suicide bombings in 2016
ISIL terrorist incidents in Turkey
Islamic terrorist incidents in 2016
March 2016 crimes in Europe
March 2016 events in Turkey
Mass murder in 2016
Mass murder in Turkey
2016 03
Terrorist incidents in Istanbul
Terrorist incidents in Turkey in 2016
Beyoğlu
Building bombings in Turkey
Attacks in Turkey in 2016