An explosion has taken place on Istanbul’s well-known shopping street Istiklal. The governor of Istanbul, Ali Yerlikaya, tweeted on Sunday that there were injuries and deaths. The reason for the explosion, which took place around 4:20 p.m. (local time) in the afternoon, was initially unclear. Rescue workers and the police are on site in large numbers, the state broadcaster TRT reported.
Images shared on social media showed people lying on the ground. The street is a tourist hotspot in the European part of the Turkish metropolis.