A Syrian suicide bomber is thought to have been responsible for an explosion in the heart of Istanbul's historic tourist district on Tuesday which killed 10 people including Turks and foreigners, President Tayyip Erdogan said. "I condemn the terror incident in Istanbul assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin. Unfortunately we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals... There are also 15 wounded," Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, in a speech broadcast live on television. Several bodies lay on the ground in the Sultanahmet square, close to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, a major tourist area of Turkey's most populous city. A police officer and witness at the scene reported also seeing several bodies and body parts. Six German citizens, one Norwegian and one Peruvian were among the wounded, the Dogan news agency said. A tour company official told Reuters a group from Germany was in the area at the time but said there was no immediate information on whether any of them had been injured. An official at the German foreign ministry said it could not be ruled out that German citizens may have been injured and that its crisis unit and the consulate in Istanbul were urgently working with the Turkish authorities to find out. Norway's foreign ministry said one Norweigan man was injured and was being treated in hospital. The Istanbul governor's office said the authorities were investigating the type of explosive used and who might have been responsible. It said ten people were killed and 15 wounded but gave no further details. "We heard a loud sound and I looked at the sky to see if it was raining because I thought it was thunder but the sky was clear," said Kuwaiti tourist Farah Zamani, 24, who was shopping at one of the covered bazaars with her father and sister. A police officer at the scene said the square was not densely packed at the time of the blast, but that small groups of tourists were wandering around. "It was unimaginable," he said, describing an amateur video he had seen of the immediate aftermath, with six or seven bodies lying on the ground and other people seriously wounded. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held an emergency meeting in Ankara with the interior minister and security chiefs. A senior official said "terrorist links" were suspected in the attack, but declined to comment further. The dull thud of the explosion was heard in districts of Istanbul several kilometres away, residents said. Tourist sites including the Hagia Sophia and the nearby Basilica Cistern were closed on the governor's orders, officials said. Germany warned its citizens to avoid crowds and tourist sites in Istanbul. "Travelers in Istanbul are strongly urged to avoid for now large groups of people in public places as well as tourist attractions" and to stay informed via official travel advisories and the media, the foreign ministry said. The ministry on its website warned of possible "political tensions as well as violent clashes and terrorist attacks across the country," adding that tourists should avoid large demonstrations.
