- Riot police stand guard as police forensic officers inspect the scene after an explosion near the police vehicles in central Istanbul October 31, 2010. A suspected suicide bomber injured at least 15 people in the explosion in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Sunday, Turkish media reported. (Getty Images / REUTERS/Murad Sezer )
ANKARA, October 31 (KATAKAMI / RIA Novosti) - At least 22 people were injured after a suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive in Istanbul's main square on Sunday, local TV reported, referring to police.
The blast occurred in Taksim square where riot police had been gathering in preparations for possible demonstrations. Police chief Huseyin Capkin said ten police officers had been injured in the attack, including two policemen in a serious condition.
TV footage showed a body, believed to be that of the suicide bomber, lying near the site of the explosion, covered over with newspapers.
No radical group in Turkey has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the TV reports said. In the past, members of the separatist rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul.
(MS)
