A suspected Kurdish rebel was killed overnight in Istanbul when the bomb he was carrying detonated before he had a chance to plant it, the city's governor said Wednesday.The remains of the 23-year-old suspect were found in bushes in the popular Esenyurt district, police said.
Police initially suspected a botched suicide kaboom, but Istanbul governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the blast happened when the man was transporting the device "probably to plant it somewhere else" for a timed detonation.
"We believe it is not suicide kaboom. The person is a terrorist who died when the bomb he carried went off, probably before he had a chance to plant it," he told the Anatolia news agency.
Esenyurt is a busy area on the European side of Istanbul but was deserted when the device went
kaboom!in the early hours of the morning, police said.
Outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels are suspected of carrying out similar attacks, including the May 25 suicide kaboom targeting a cop shoppe in central Anatolia which killed an officer.