'Terror' Attack: Bomb Blasts in Istanbul Kill 15 and Injure 150

Turkey's volatile political landscape was plunged deeper into turmoil last night when two bomb blasts in Istanbul left at least 15 people dead and about 150 injured in what officials called a "terrorist" attack.

The explosions were within minutes of each other and a few yards apart, set off by devices planted in rubbish bins in a busy shopping street in Gungoren, a working-class neighbourhood in the west of the city. The blasts were Turkey's deadliest for five years, and underscored the tensions and divisions rippling through the country as a power struggle between secularists and the Islamist-leaning government comes to a head.

The first blast happened at around 10pm local time close to a telephone booth, causing a hail of flying glass and debris that left several people dead or wounded. As crowds gathered to help the injured or to see what had happened, a second device went off near a car, killing and maiming more people.

Graphic television footage showed several people lying on the ground apparently dead or severely injured in pools of blood. "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms were flying in the air," Reuters quoted one witness as saying. Police said the casualties from the second explosion were increased by the numbers drawn to the scene of the earlier blast.

Another witness, Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop, said: "The first explosion was not very strong. Several people came to see what was going on. That's when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers."

There was early speculation that the explosions may have been caused by a gas leak but Istanbul's governor, Muammer Guler, labelled them a "terror attack". He said the explosions had occurred within 10 or 12 minutes of each other, and that CCTV cameras had filmed the devices being planted.

"This was a heinous attack aimed against innocent citizens and the security of our people," Guler said. "It did not discriminate between the young and the old, or men or women."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkish TV quoted police sources as saying they had received intelligence of planned attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), which has been blamed for previous incidents. The Turkish army last week stepped up attacks on PKK bases in northern Iraq. More than 40,000 people have died in clashes between the army and the separatist PKK since 1984.

It was Turkey's second attack this month, and the worst since November 2003, when 60 people were killed in Istanbul in four blasts, blamed on al-Qaida, at the British consulate, the HSBC bank's Turkish headquarters and two synagogues. Gunmen killed three police officers outside the US consulate in Istanbul three weeks ago before themselves being shot dead.