A twin bomb attack on police officers outside a football stadium in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, has killed 38 people and injured many more.
Scene from the incident (Photo courtesy of CNN)
Two explosions have hit the Turkish city of Istanbul, killing at least 38 people, mostly police personnel, and wounding more than 160 others, according to authorities.
Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister announced that 30 police officers, seven civilians and an unidentified person were killed. So far, 13 suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, Soylu said.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said 20 people were discharged from hospitals while six of the wounded were in intensive care, according to Turkish national daily Hurriyet.
Three of the wounded are still in a critical condition, he said.
"I heard two loud explosions within 30 seconds of each other," Omer Yilmaz, a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce Mosque, told Al Jazeera.
"I saw flames. I walked towards the police bus which was on fire and and I saw policemen inside."
Scene from the incident (Photo courtesy of CNN)
Turkey declared a one-day morning after the twin blasts ripped through the heart of Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also ordered flags to fly at half mast, Anadolu said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the blasts were timed to cause maximum loss of life. "A terrorist attack has been carried out against our security forces and our citizens," he said.
"We have witnessed once more here in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples down any form of value and morals."
Erdogan postponed a scheduled visit to Kazakhstan for talks with his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Scene from the incident (Photo courtesy of CNN)
Police evacuated the area around the Besiktas football arena following the explosions, which the interior ministry said was a car bomb attack. The second explosion at a nearby park was reportedly carried out by a suicide bomber.
The arena is located across the historic Dolmabahce Palace overlooking the Bosphorus Strait.
Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said all the roads leading to the arena were closed to the public. Public transportation were also suspended in the wake of the blasts, which occurred about two hours after a football match attended by thousands of people at the Besiktas Vodafone arena.