An explosion near a subway station in the Bayrampasa district of Istanbul has left five people injured, according to local officials. Conflicting reports suggest that it has been either a power transformer malfunction or a bomb.
READ MORE: Fears bomb behind blast near Istanbul subway
01 December 2015
Istanbul police is currently looking for a middle-aged man who may be responsible for today’s explosion, Turkish Haber Turk TV channel reported. He was seen quickly leaving the area after the blast rocked the Bayrampasa district.
A 36-year-old man named Adnan Yalcin was injured in the explosion, local newspaper Yeni Safak reported. He was taken to Haseki Training and Research Hospital, but his condition is reportedly not life threatening.
A hand-made bomb was the cause of the explosion in Istanbul, Doğan news agency has reported. However, this is yet to be confirmed.
Since explosions in Ankara on October 10, when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the middle of a crowd, Turkey has stepped up security to increase safety. The terror attack claimed the lives of 103 people, making it the deadliest in Turkey’s modern history.
There were no casualties, but six were injured, AFP news agency suggests.
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“The cause of the explosion is not clear. We are investigating all possibilities,” Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said, according to state-run Anatolia news agency, the Express Tribune reports.
Photographs posted on social media after the blast show people moving along overground train tracks after subway services had been suspended on the entire network.
Istanbul police say the cause of the blast is still unknown, adding that an investigation into the incident has been launched, Reuters reported.
Electricity has been cut off in Bayrampasa and the surrounding district, according to HaberTürk TV.
Eyewitnesses report the blast was quite loud.
"Later my family and friends called from other parts of the city and said they could hear it, too," Onur Dugenci told the BBC.
"There was no fire. But the explosion was so powerful that the windows on some cars were broken".
Turkish security forces have blocked entrance to the Bayrampasa subway station and are currently evacuating the passengers who were inside.
The explosion on an overpass near an Istanbul metro station might have been caused by a pipe bomb, Atilla Aydiner, the head of the city district, said in an interview to local television, Reuters reports.
The explosion was heard in several districts of Istanbul, residents of the city said on Twitter. Local media reported that fire services and ambulances were sent to the site of the incident.
Many ambulances rushed to the scene after the blast rocked the district on the European side of the city, eyewitnesses say. The blast has also caused the disruption of subway services and an electricity blackout.