Another bombing in Istanbul

[Josquius]

ISTANBUL - At least two people were killed and seven wounded in a suicide bombing in a major shopping and tourist district in central Istanbul on Saturday, CNN Turk reported.

The explosion was in Istiklal Street, a wide boulevard closed to traffic that is lined with international stores and shopping centers.

A Reuters witness in the area saw police helicopters circling overhead and television footage showed people running from the area.


Earlier this week, a militant Kurdish organization released a statement on its website claiming responsibility for the deadly suicide bombing that took the lives of 37 people in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

According to the group, the Kurdistan Free Hawks, the attack was perpetrated by Seher Cagla Demir, a 24-year-old woman who had reportedly trained in Syria.

Demir, a Kurdish separatist, detonated explosives that she had carried on her person as part of a "radical fight against a policy of massacre and denial against the Kurdish people."

Overnight Thursday, Turkish bomb-disposal experts disabled an explosive device in a vehicle found near a government building in southeast Turkey, as a recent spate of bomb attacks prompted security warnings in major cities.

The vehicle was found with 150 kg (331 lb) of explosives in the town of Hani in the mainly Kurdish region's Diyarbakir province, the sources said. Police were examining security cameras in the area as part of the investigation.

And of course I'm going there on Wednesday.  Knowing my luck I will definitely be blown up.
So, nice knowing you guys.
Fuck you kurds. I was always on your side too.

[Admiral Yi]

Squeeze, this OP is just not going to cut it.

[Liep]

I stayed in a hostel at the southern end of that street when I was there some years ago. The upper end of it was just average run-of-the-mill shopping so there's no reason to visit that.

I would probably have picked another time to visit Istanbul, but have a nice trip and stay safe!

[Tamas]

Yep, Istanbul and Brussels are now third world territory, I wouldn't visit.

[Duque de Bragança]

Istanbul now Third World Territory? Nihil novi sub sole...

[Josquius]

Sooooo. .......am I fucking insane for going ahead with this?

[Razgovory]

Sooooo. .......am I fucking insane for going ahead with this?

No, No, No.  There could be other causes for this absurd behavior.  For instance, you could be drunk.

[Admiral Yi]

Sooooo. .......am I fucking insane for going ahead with this?

Unless the terrorists are targeting tourist concentrations, go.

If you live, you'll have a tale to tell.  If you die, it's not a bad way to go, and you won't be leaving any dependents stranded.

Based on my experience in Korea during massive government demonstrations (some of which turned violent) I believe news cameras always make things appear worse than they really are.

[Liep]

Sooooo. .......am I fucking insane for going ahead with this?

Unless the terrorists are targeting tourist concentrations, go.

They are. The two suicide bombs in Istanbul this year has targeted tourist groups.

[alfred russel]

Sooooo. .......am I fucking insane for going ahead with this?

Tyr, I don't think it is a good time to go, but I wouldn't cancel a trip either.

[merithyn]

We were in Istanbul three weeks after the last attack there and we survived. We were even in the same neighborhood as the last one.

I look at it this way: Just after an attack is when security is at its strongest. This is, by that reasoning, the safest time to go!

TBH, my biggest worry was a rocket-launched missile at the plane.

[alfred russel]

We were in Istanbul three weeks after the last attack there and we survived. We were even in the same neighborhood as the last one.

I look at it this way: Just after an attack is when security is at its strongest. This is, by that reasoning, the safest time to go!

TBH, my biggest worry was a rocket-launched missile at the plane.

This is what I thought, so my buddy Nick Berg and I took a trip to Baghdad. It didn't work out for him.