ISTANBUL - At least 31 people were injured, two seriously, in a bomb blast in a residential neighbourhood of Istanbul, police said. Initially the explosion was blamed on a gas leak and the number of injured put at four or five. “It is not an explosion caused by a gas leak, a bomb went off,” Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters, according to the Anatolia news agency, but gave no details of the type of explosive used.
The device was planted in a trash bin outside a shop in Bakirkoy, on the European side of the city, TurkeyÂ’s largest, and media reports spoke of extensive damage. Earlier media reports had said the explosion had taken place in a restaurant. Bystanders were reported to have attacked people suspected of planting the bomb and television pictures showed police firing in the air to disperse a crowd.
| Next time let the crowd have a few more seconds with the perps ... |