Turkey detains Taksim explosion suspect, blames PKK

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Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu stated that the suspect who planted an explosive device in Istanbul on Sunday has been arrested.

A strong explosion was heard Sunday in a busy area in the heart of Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the explosion in Istanbul left six people dead and 53 injured.

"The person who planted the bomb has been arrested," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a statement broadcast by the official Anadolu news agency. 

Watch | An explosion on a busy pedestrian street in central #Istanbul's #Taksim area left multiple people dead, wounded and others running from the scene. pic.twitter.com/qBPXf4ZmE6

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 13, 2022

For his part, Turkey's Vice President Fuat Oktay said, "We believe that it is a terrorist act carried out by an attacker, whom we consider to be a woman, exploding the bomb.”

Oktay added that the explosion, which the authorities classified as a terrorist act, injured 81 persons, 39 of whom have since been released from hospitals.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said: "A woman had been sitting on one of the benches for more than 40 minutes and then she got up."

"One or two minutes later, an explosion occurred," he said as quoted by A Haber television. 

"All data on this woman are currently under scrutiny," he said. 

It is also worth noting that Istanbul's tourist thoroughfare Istiklal has reopened to pedestrians, as per NTV news station on Monday morning.

Istiklal Street was hit during a 2015-2016 attack campaign targeting Istanbul and other cities, including Ankara. These bombings, which killed nearly 500 people and injured over 2,000, were mostly blamed on ISIS and outlawed Kurdish militants.

Istiklal Street in Istanbul's ancient district of Beyoglu is one of the city's most well-known thoroughfares.