MOSCOW, January 10 (Sputnik) — Police defused two bombs at malls in the Istanbul region after being tipped off by shoppers, local media reported Saturday.
A shopping center in the Istanbul western suburb of Basaksehir was evacuated by police after the mall-goers discovered a suspicious bag, the local Dogan news agency reported. A bomb disposal team which arrived at the scene established that the bag contained a homemade fragmentation bomb reinforced with fuel refills. The device was defused and handed over to forensic experts.
VIDEO: One bomb defused, another exploded by police in two #Istanbul shopping malls today http://t.co/eqaYAunT2j pic.twitter.com/UFF0hBF08l
— Hurriyet Daily News (@HDNER) 10 января 2015
A similar incident reportedly took place in the neighboring Sefakoy district, where butane fuel refills have been found by shoppers in front of another mall. Police briefly closed off the area and opted to detonate the relatively less damaging explosive.
Bomb defused by police in Istanbul shopping mall http://t.co/InwnudEiLV pic.twitter.com/x78UWD06YL
— Dunya TV (@dunyanetwork) 10 января 2015
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombs so far.
Turkish authorities have been on alert after a suicide bomber detonated herself at a police station in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing one police officer and injuring another.
"The attack on January 6 in Sultanahmet… was not carried out by our organisation," the statement says. "We therefore withdraw our claim for the action. We apologise to our people and our supporters."
Russia’s Consulate General in Istanbul on Friday declined to confirm such reports.
“Currently we have no information regarding the issue,” a consulate representative told RIA Novosti.
Another attack took place in the Turkish capital the previous week, when a man threw a hand grenade at police in front of the Dolmabahce Palace, which houses the prime minister’s office. The bomb did not explode.
