At least 20 people were wounded on Saturday evening after twin explosions rocked Istanbul, according to Turkey’s official state news agency Anadolu.
The explosions, one large blast followed by a smaller one, occurred after a football game, reported CNN Turkey.
The first explosion at Macka Park is considered a suicide attack, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, according to Anadolu. He didn’t say what caused the second explosion, which occurred near Besiktas Vodafone Arena. The two locations are less than a mile apart.
Soylu had earlier said “a car bomb” was the source of an explosion, according to Turkish state news agency TRT. However, it’s not clear which blast he was referring to.
In a tweet written shortly after the blasts, Transportation Minister Ahmet Arslan characterized them as a “terrorist attack.”
“We condemn the vile terror attack in Besiktas, Istanbul and wish quick recoveries to the injured,” said Arslan.
Besiktas had played Bursaspor in a Turkey League game at the football arena earlier the same day.
TRT reported the blasts targeted police. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the blasts, police began towing cars parked near Taksim Square as a precaution.
Christopher James, a freelance writer and teacher living in Istanbul, told CNN he was at a hotel not far from the arena when the blasts occurred.
“We could hear and see the boom, and then after the boom the sound came back towards us,” he said. “It sounded like gunshots reverberating and then my phone started buzzing like crazy.”
Ramazan Hakki Oztan, a historian from Istanbul who was attending a casual gathering near the arena, also saw the explosions.
“We were at this hotel with this nice view of the old city by Taksim Square,” she said. “We saw this huge explosion that happened by the stadium. … And 10 seconds, or 15 seconds after there was another explosion. … The second bomb was smaller in size.”
She said she was near the arena earlier in the day and noticed a heavy police presence.
“I think they targeted the cops that were out there by the stadium who were protecting the spectators,” she said.
Following the explosions, the US Consulate in Istanbul tweeted: “Please avoid the area, monitor local press reporting, and let friends and family know you are OK.”
Turkey has weathered a string of terror attacks over the past several years and is still reeling from a bloody, but failed attempt at a military coup in July.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency following the coup attempt, as authorities carried out a large number of arrests.
ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead, and an explosion at an August wedding in Gaziantep, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.
Meanwhile, Turkish security forces continue to clash on a nearly daily basis with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, mostly in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey. The Turkish army suspects the PKK was behind a September car bombing in southeast Turkey that killed at least 18 people. Other attacks have targeted Turkish police and army assets.
Adding to the sense of vulnerability, conflicts in Iraq and Syria have spilled over into Turkey, contributing to a surge in violence on the home front. The country also struggles with the burden of hosting millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
In late October, The US government ordered all civilian family members of its Istanbul consulate staff to leave Turkey because of increasing threats from terrorist organizations.
In March, the Pentagon ordered family members to leave Incirlik Airbase in southeast Turkey and the State Department ordered families of employees of the US consulate in Adana to evacuate.
