A car bomb attack targeting a police bus killed 11 people, including seven police officers, Tuesday in the historic center of Istanbul, officials said.
Four civilians were among the dead in the morning rush-hour attack in Istanbul’s Beyazit Vezneciler district, Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin told reporters.
The explosion, which occurred about 8.40 a.m. local time, left 36 people injured, three of them critically, he said.
Local media reported that the blast was remotely detonated. No group has taken responsibility for the bombing, and Sahin said the investigation into the attack was ongoing.
Images from the blast area showed security personnel at the scene and visible damage to vehicle and buildings.
Erdogan calls attack unforgivable
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the wounded in the hospital, offered his condolences and said the attack was unforgivable.
“Let me be clear, terrorist organizations distinguishing between civilians, soldiers and police does not mean anything to us. The end target is always human beings,” he said.
He vowed to continue the fight against terrorism.
The United States, France and Germany were quick to condemn the attack, with French President Francois Hollande saying in a statement that “this intolerable act of violence must more than ever confirm our mutual determination to fight all forms of terrorism.”
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey said on Twitter that it would “continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism.”
Latest attack
Turkey has been rocked by a string of terror attacks over the past year as it weathers bombing campaigns carried out both by ISIS and Kurdish militants.
As part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Turkey allows coalition planes to fly raids on ISIS targets in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its territory.
And last year Turkey resumed hostilities with Kurdish militant separatists the PKK in earnest after a two-year cease-fire broke down.
The PKK, or Kurdistan Worker’s Party, has been in an armed struggle with the Turkish government for decades and is considered a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
In March, at least 37 were killed when a car bomb detonated near a bus stop in the capital, Ankara, in an attack claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
Six days later an ISIS suicide bomber detonated himself on one of Istanbul’s main streets, killing four.
A month earlier, 28 had been killed in a blast targeting military vehicles in central Ankara, which was claimed by a Kurdish group.
And in January, at least 10 German tourists died in a suicide bombing in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square that Turkish authorities linked to ISIS.