Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the president of Somalia, stated that he “strongly condemns the terrible terrorist attack” that occurred in Istanbul on Sunday and left at least 81 people injured.
President Mohamud sent his sincere condolences to the blast victims and said; “Somalia’s support and solidarity with the Turkish people in their fight against terrorism.”
Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condolences and wished victims a speedy recovery. It said; “The Federal Republic of Somalia reaffirms its position of solidarity with the Turkish people, rejects all forms of violence and terrorism, and calls for unity in draining its financial, military and ideological resources.”
Istanbul’s famous Istiklal street remained closed on Sunday evenings after the explosion shook the commercial area and terrified a crowd of people.
“Our injured were swiftly transported to nearby hospitals.” Relevant elements of our state are still working to identify the perpetrators of this terrible attack and the groups behind it. Terrorist attempts to take over Turkey and the Turkish nation will not succeed today or tomorrow as they did yesterday. Let our country know that the offenders will be punished appropriately by investigating all the circumstances leading up to and around the Istiklal Street event.”
Turkish authorities attributed a March 2016 suicide attack on the same street to ISIS, but President Erdogan was reluctant to point the finger at any specific group, saying that the bomb attack “smells like terrorism.”
“Of course, at this moment during the initial investigation, it would be incorrect to claim for certain that terrorism is involved, but preliminary developments and information provided by the first governor indicate that it smells like terrorism..”
When he visited the blast site on Sunday evening and told reporters in Taksim Square that a female assailant is thought to have detonated the bomb, Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay expressed similar thoughts. If true, it would be Turkey’s first significant terrorist strike in a number of years.
He reiterated that six persons died in the explosion and said that the number of injured rose from 53 to 81 during the news conference.
Despite the news being widely shared on popular social media platforms, the Turkish media regulator and supervisory authority RTük imposed a news ban restricting the use of close-up videos and photos of the explosion.
No group has claimed responsibility of the explosion. Kurdish separatists, militants, and other groups have previously targeted Istanbul and other Turkish cities, including in a series of explosions between 2015 and 2017 that killed more than 500 civilians and security officers.
