Turkey declared a national day of mourning and began to bury its dead Sunday after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded 155 others near a soccer stadium, reports the AP. It was the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats. The bombs Saturday night targeted police, killing 30 of them along with seven civilians and an unidentified person, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters Sunday. He said 13 people had been arrested in connection with the "terrorist attack." "Sooner or later, we will have our vengeance," said Soylu, speaking at a funeral, per Sky News. "This blood will not be left on the ground, no matter what the price, what the cost." President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Turkey would overcome terrorism. "We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror, which tramples on every value and decency," Erdogan said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that "arrows point to the PKK," the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency. The first and larger explosion took place about 7:30pm Saturday after the home team Besiktas beat visitor Bursaspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super League. Erdogan said the timing aimed to maximize loss of life. Soylu said the first explosion was caused by a passing vehicle that detonated in an area where police special forces were located at the stadium exit. Moments later, a person in nearby Macka Park committed suicide by triggering explosives. The civilian death toll was lower because fans had already left the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium after the soccer match when the blasts occurred. Soylu said 136 people remained hospitalized Sunday after the attack, including 14 under intensive care. (More Turkey stories.)
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