10 Tourists Killed in ISIS Suicide Bombing in Istanbul

Nine Germans and a Peruvian Reported Slain in Attack

A suspected ISIS suicide bomber detonated a bomb in an historic district of Istanbul, Turkey today, killing 10 people, all tourists, and wounding 15 others. The slain were identified as nine Germans and one Peruvian. The wounded haven’t all been identified but are also believed to be chiefly tourists.

Turkish deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus identified the attacker as a 28-year-old from Syria. Though no other officials directly confirmed this, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said the attacker was an ISIS member.

There has been no claim of responsibility yet, however, and Turkey isn’t exactly short on would-be attackers, with an ongoing war against their Kurdish minority and intermittent suicide attacks from a Marxist-Leninist group that also operates around Istanbul.

Still, targeting tourists in general does seem in keeping with ISIS strategy, and is likely to damage Turkey’s tourism industry, as ISIS attacks have in the past in places like the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The Turkish government announced an array of new security measures in the district, but panic prevails for the time being.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.