Double bomb blast rocks Turkey

Two fatal explosions have killed at least 15 people, and injured around 150 others, in Istanbul. Local reports indicate the double bombing occurred in a shopping centre in the busy Gungoren district around 10pm local time.

It is thought many victims were killed by the second explosion as people rushed to the scene of the first.

Istanbul’s Governor Muammer Guler said: “Our people are doing their best to find out who did this and are searching the area to find out what explosives were used.”

No group has admitted being behind the blasts, but several groups, including Kurdish separatists, far-left militants and Islamists, have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past.

The explosions in Istanbul come amid high political tension in Turkey with the governing Islamist party the AKP facing a potential ban by Turkey’s constitutional court.

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