By Nick Tattersall and Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL: A suicide bomber killed two Israelis and two other people on Saturday in a busy shopping district in the heart of Istanbul the fourth such attack in Turkey so far this year.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the blast was “inhumane” and would not stop Turkey which has been targeted by Kurdish militants and Islamic State in recent months from fighting “centres of terrorism”.

The blast which wounded at least 36 people was a few hundred metres from an area where police buses are often stationed and sent panicked shoppers scurrying into side alleys off Istiklal Street a pedestrian avenue lined with international stores and foreign consulates.

The explosion killed at least two Israeli citizens Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said adding that a third may have died. Israel said earlier that 11 of its citizens were injured while Turkish officials said one Iranian was also among the dead. Ireland said “a number” of Irish were hurt.

“There is information that it is an attack carried out by an ISIS member but this is preliminary information we are still checking it.” Netanyahu told reporters referring to Islamic State.

The attack will raise further questions about the ability of NATO member Turkey to protect itself against a spillover of violence from the war in neighbouring Syria.

Turkey is battling a widening Kurdish insurgency in its southeast which it sees as fuelled by the territorial gains of Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria and has also blamed some of the recent bombings on Islamic State militants who crossed from its southern neighbour.

“No centre of terrorism will reach its aim with such monstrous attacks” Davutoglu said in a written statement. “Our struggle will continue with the same resolution and determination until terrorism ends completely.”

THREE SUSPECTS

Germany had shut its diplomatic missions and schools on Thursday citing a specific threat. U.S. and other European embassies had warned their citizens to be vigilant ahead of Newroz celebrations this weekend a spring festival largely marked by Kurds that has turned violent in the past.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Two senior officials said the attack could have been carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighting for Kurdish autonomy in the southeast or by an Islamic State militant.

A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in the capital Ankara over the past month which killed 66 people. Islamic State was blamed for a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January which killed at least 12 German tourists.

One of the officials said Saturday’s bomber who also died in the blast had planned to hit a more crowded location but was deterred by the police presence.

“The attacker detonated the bomb before reaching the target point because they were scared of the police” the official said declining to be named as the investigation is ongoing.

Another official said investigations were focusing on three possible suspects all of them male and two of them from the southern city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. There was no further confirmation of this.

Armed police sealed off the shopping street where half a dozen ambulances gathered. Forensic teams in white suits searched for evidence as police helicopters buzzed overhead.

“I saw a body on the street. No one was treating him but then I saw someone who appeared to be a regular citizen trying to do something to the body. That was enough for me and I turned and went back” one resident told Reuters.

Istiklal Street usually thronged with shoppers at weekends was quieter than normal as more people are staying home after a series of deadly bombings.

Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 36 people had been wounded seven of them in serious condition. At least 24 of the wounded were foreigners according to Istanbul’s governor.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

Turkey is still in shock from a suicide car bombing last Sunday at a crowded transport hub in the capital Ankara which killed 37 people and a similar bombing in Ankara last month in which 29 died. A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for both.

The latest attack brought widespread condemnation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on an official visit to Istanbul said it showed “the ugly face of terrorism”. France condemned it as “despicable and cowardly”.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg described it as “another terrorist outrage against innocent civilians” while the U.S. State Department said it was the latest “indefensible violence targeting innocent people throughout Turkey”.

The Kurdish-rooted opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the bombing. The PKK’s umbrella group said it opposed targeting civilians and condemned attacks on them.

A 2-1/2-year PKK ceasefire collapsed last July triggering the worst violence in the southeast since the 1990s. Hundreds have since died.

Separately a police officer and a soldier died in clashes with militants in the southeastern city of Nusaybin security sources said.

In its armed campaign in Turkey the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces but recent bombings suggest it could be shifting tactics.

At the height of the PKK insurgency in the 1990s the Newroz festival often saw clashes between Kurdish protesters and security forces.

(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun Asli Kandemir Humeyra Pamuk Daren Butler Parisa Hafezi in Turkey John Irish in Paris Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Idrees Ali in Washington; Padraic Halpin in Dublin; writing by David Dolan and Nick Tattersall; editing by Alexander Smith and David Clarke)

Reuters