Turkey: Several dead in suicide blast in central Istanbul Sultanahmet district

The Istanbul governor's office says 10 people died in the blast

At least 10 people including both foreigners and Turks have been killed in an explosion in a tourist area of Istanbul, Turkish officials said.

Turkey's President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack in the Sultanahmet district had been carried out by a Syrian suicide bomber.

The blast took place near the Blue Mosque.

Fifteen people were also wounded in the blast, the Istanbul Governor's Office said in a statement on its website.

The authorities are investigating the type of explosive used, the governor's office said.

"It was a suicide bomb. I went there and saw it and came back to the hotel. There was chaos. Everybody was running somewhere," eyewitness Murat Manaz told the BBC.

"Policemen did not see this coming. They were distressed but at the same time they were trying to evacuate the area because they said there was a possibility that a second bomb could go off."

Local media suggest the blast was caused by a suicide bomber

The explosion happened just after 10am local time (08:00 GMT)

Norway's foreign ministry said a Norwegian man was receiving treatment in hospital, while Germany's foreign ministry said it was investigating the reports.

The ministry has on its website (in German) urged German tourists in the city to avoid large crowds and tourist attractions and warned that further violent clashes and "terrorist attacks" are expected across Turkey.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul says in recent months there have been sporadic attacks by a far-left group in Istanbul, while violence has soared between Turkish forces and PKK Kurdish militants, mainly in southeast Turkey, after a ceasefire broke down.

Turkey has also been hit by bomb attacks blamed by prosecutors on the so-called Islamic State group.

Two suicide blasts in the capital Ankara in October killed more than 100 people and more than 30 people were killed in an attack near the border with Syria in July.

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Source: BBC