Turkey Blasts Kill 38 in Istanbul, More than 100 Detained in Raids against HDP

Local Editor

Turkish police have detained 118 people in raids across Turkey targeting officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party [HDP] over allegations of links to Kurdish PKK militants, state-run Anadolu agency said on Monday.

The operations were launched after an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Sunday claimed responsibility for twin bombings that killed 38 people and wounded 155 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium.

Hours after that claim, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, destroying a headquarters of the militants and surrounding gun positions and shelters, an army statement said.

Around dawn, about 500 police, backed by armored vehicles and a helicopter, launched an operation in the southern city of Adana and detained 25 HDP officials, Anadolu said.

Counter-terror police teams in Istanbul separately took into custody 20 HDP officials, including its provincial head, and carried out searches at various addresses including the party's main offices in the city, the agency said.

The top HDP official in Ankara was among 17 people from the party held in raids in the capital, it said, adding 51 people were detained in the southern city of Mersin and five in the northwestern province of Manisa.

The leaders of the HDP, the second-largest opposition grouping in parliament, have already been jailed pending trial over alleged ties to the PKK, and Ankara regularly accuses the HDP of being an extension of the militant group.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

A defiant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed to fight terror "to the end".

The bloodshed, which took place late on Saturday, saw a car bomb exploding outside the home stadium of football giants Besiktas and less than a minute later, a suicide attacker blew himself up by a group of police at a nearby park.

Most of the dead were police officers, who accounted for 30 of the victims. Seven civilians also died, along with one person whose identity was unclear, officials said. Around 150 people were wounded in the blasts.

The carnage prompted a sharp response from Erdogan, who vowed Ankara would "fight the scourge of terrorism right to the end".

"They should know that they will not get away with it ... They will pay a heavier price."

The twin attacks drew international condolences and condemnation, with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg denouncing the bloodshed as "horrific" and the US embassy in Turkey tweeting: "Our hearts and prayers are with the people of #Istanbul tonight."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Erdogan by phone, with the two agreeing to step up anti-terror cooperation.

"The chancellor asked the president to convey her sympathies to the victims' loved ones and offered help, if needed, to care for those who were injured," spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said in a statement.

"The chancellor and the president agreed to intensify their cooperation in fighting terrorism," she added, without providing details.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team