Istiklal Street bombing linked to ISIS

5 dead and 35 injured (6 critically) in blast in Beyoglu. As eyewittnesses suggest, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a sideroad of Istiklal Street. Some say that the bombing was aimed at one of the Consulates on Istitklal Street and went up too early as the perpertraor was appoached by Turkish security officials. Germany had closed its consulate near Taksim days before the blast occurred. The Istanbul governor then called on Germay to stop ruining Turkey's reputation. Earlier on March 19th Reuters quotes Turkish official accusing PKK of being involved in the bombing. In fact, though,the attack was carried out bz Turkish national Mehmet Öztürk, an ISIS linked Turkish national that according to sources within the Turkish intelligence was on the agency's terror list. He is part of the Dokumacılar group active in Southern Turkey that is suspected to be involved both in Suruc and Ankara attacks last year. Both his father and his bhrother, residents of Southeastern Gaziantep were arrested.

An itibarıyla İstiklal'de patlama oldu pic.twitter.com/V9RKVm5h00

— Patavatsız (@PatavatsizCocuk) 19. März 2016