Female suicide bomber kills policeman, self in İstanbul’s historic heart

There was no immediate claim of responsibility; but the bombing comes less than a week after far-left group DHKP-C said it was behind a grenade attack on police near the prime minister's office in İstanbul. Turkey also faces possible threat from Islamist militants moving across the border from Syria and Iraq and, despite a truce in a 30-year-old insurrection, from militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Police sealed off the street where Tuesday's attack happened, across the square from the Aya Sofya museum and the Blue Mosque and near the Basilica Cistern, which are among the main sites for millions of visitors to İstanbul each year. "We were shaken by a very loud blast. There were customers and everyone dropped to the floor," Kaan Koç, who works just across from the station, told broadcaster CNN Turk. "A police officer came out of the station and fired into the air saying 'disperse, there is a suicide bomber, go inside'. Then we heard gun fire but we weren't sure who was shooting." Windows were shattered and shutters hung unhinged from the yellow, three-storey tourist police station. The woman entered the police station saying in English that she had lost her purse and then blew herself up, İstanbul Governor Vasip Şahin told reporters at the scene. Her nationality and identity were unknown. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Tuesday that it was not immediately clear whether the suicide bomber had links to any particular group but that he had ordered "the most comprehensive investigation". "The authorities are investigating whether there is a link to any group ... We have given instructions for the most comprehensive investigations," Davutoğlu told reporters in a brief statement in the capital Ankara. He also confirmed that the police officer who was critically wounded succumbed to his wounds and died. Davutoğlu added that the bomber was carrying two other bombs, which were safely defused. "Police intervened immediately and prevented worse casualties," he said. The DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) had warned of further strikes after last Thursday's attack, in which a man carrying an automatic weapon was detained near the Ottoman-era Dolmabahçe Palace. The group was also behind a suicide bombing at the US Embassy last year and numerous attacks on police stations. Most were in outlying İstanbul suburbs, apparent vendettas against particular police officers. It said Thursday's attack was over the killing of 15-year-old boy who died last March after nine months in a coma from a head wound sustained during an anti-government protest. It blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the death.