Istanbul police on alert after explosion security warnings
Date
4/10/2016 9:19:32 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Police units in Istanbul stepped up their security measures in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on April 10 following an explosion in central Istanbul on April 9 amid reports of possible terror threats targeting the city.
Police closed the square with barricades ahead of ceremonies for the 171st anniversary of the Turkish police department’s foundation. Special operations police officers were placed on top of high buildings nearby while a number of armed police officers were ready around the square.
Interior Ministry undersecretary Selami Altnok examined the square’s security measures which will reportedly continue to be taken in the area.
A sound bomb exploded on April 9 in Istanbul’s busy Mecidiyeköy neighborhood hours after the U.S. embassy’s security warning. The bomb which was placed under an overpass near the Mecidiyeköy metrobus station exploded at around 8:45 p.m. injuring three people who were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. In addition a second sound bomb also exploded in a solid waste transfer station in the city’s ili district at around 11 p.m. The explosion occurred while a truck was emptying out waste material at the station. No injuries were reported in the incident.A police investigation into both incidents was ongoing.
The intensified security measures were taken amid a recent warning by the United States of possible attacks in Istanbul marking the second such warning in a month.
On April 9 the United States Embassy in Turkey warnedAmericancitizens of “credible threats” to tourist areas in Istanbul and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya afterIsraelwarned of “imminent risks” of attacks a day earlier.
“The U.S. mission in Turkey would like to inform U.S. citizens that there are credible threats to tourist areas in particular to public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya” read the emergency travel warning published on the embassy’s official website.
On April 8Israelalso reissued and accentuated a warning to its citizens to avoid Turkey over the “immediate risks” of attacks calling on all Israeli citizens and tourists to avoid visiting the country and leave “as soon as possible” defining the threat as level 2 “concrete and high.”
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