The death toll from the Istanbul twin bombings near a major football stadium has risen to 44, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said Monday.

The late Saturday attacks saw a car bomb explode outside the home stadium of football giants Besiktas and less than a minute later, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a group of police at a nearby park.

"It is very painful that we lost 36 of our police officers and eight civilians in a bloody attack," Akdag told parliament, Dogan news agency reported.

The blasts also injured 166 people and were claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (Tak), which is seen as a radical offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey has been hit by multiple attacks this year blamed on Kurdish militants and Islamic State jihadists.

The Tak group has claimed three major strikes this year.

Two were in Ankara: one on February 17 that left 28 dead and another on March 13 that killed 34; as well as a car bombing in Istanbul on June 7 in which 11 people died. </s> Forensic officials work at the scene of explosions near the Besiktas football club stadium after attacks in Istanbul, late Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016. Two explosions struck Saturday night outside a major soccer stadium in Istanbul after fans had gone home, an attack that wounded about 20 police officers, Turkish authorities said. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Istanbul explosions within Turkey.

ISTANBUL -- Turkey has declared a national day of mourning after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 29 people and wounded 166 others near a soccer stadium.

The Sunday statement from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's office also ordered flags to fly at half-staff across the country and at Turkey's foreign missions.

Twin attacks Saturday night by a car bomber and a suicide bomber near Istanbul's Besiktas soccer stadium were the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but one official said suspicions were focused on Kurdish militants.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that "arrows point to the PKK."

He was referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency.

Two bombs exploded outside a major soccer stadium in Istanbul after fans had gone home Saturday night, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, a Turkish official said, citing health ministry figures. One of the blasts was thought to be a suicide bomber.

Police cordoned off the area as smoke rose from behind the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium, known colloquially as Besiktas Stadium after the local team. Witnesses also heard gunfire after the explosions. The second blast was thought to be a car bomb.

"We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples on every value and decency," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

The official who gave the toll of 15 dead and dozens wounded spoke on condition anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly on the issue. He cited health ministry figures.

The first and larger explosion took place about 10:30 p.m. after the home team Besiktas beat visitor Bursaspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super League. Erdogan said the timing of the attack aimed to maximize the loss of life and vowed the nation would overcome terrorism.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who gave an initial wounded toll of 20 police officers, rushed from Ankara to Istanbul.

"It is thought to be a car bomb at a point where our special forces police were located, right after the match at the exit where Bursaspor fans" had earlier left, Soylu was quoted as saying by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.

Speaking later to reporters in Istanbul, he said the first explosion took place on a hill adjacent to and overlooking the stadium. The second explosion struck Macka Park and was believed to be a suicide bomb.

The private NTV channel reported that the target of the first attack was a bus for riot police and said nearly 70 wounded were taken to hospitals.

Television images showed more than a dozen ambulances on a street hugging the stadium and a police helicopter flying overhead with its searchlights on. The window glass of nearby buildings was shattered by the blasts and coated the pavement. Investigators, including Istanbul Police Chief Mustafa Caliskan, were quickly on the scene.

Taxi driver Ismail Coskun said the force of the explosion caused him to hit his head on the taximeter and that his ears were still ringing from the blast and screaming that followed.

"Amid the screams I heard an officer saying 'do not shout! Do not make them (the perpetrators) be satisfied," he told The AP.

The Besiktas sports club "strongly condemned" the attack in a statement posted on its website while Bursaspor reported that none of the wounded were fans and issued a statement wishing "a speedy recovery to our wounded citizens."

Aleksander Ceferin, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA, and European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, also made statements condemning the attack.

"Violence has no place in a democratic society," Hahn wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, meanwhile, urged its citizens to avoid the area which is also home to a Ritz Carlton hotel.

Turkey's radio and television board issued a temporary coverage ban citing national security concerns. It said "to avoid broadcasts that can result in public fear, panic or chaos, or that will serve the aims of terrorist organizations."

Cinar Kiper in Istanbul and Rob Harris in London contributed reporting. </s> ISTANBUL -- Twin attacks by a suicide bomber and a car bomber near an Istanbul soccer stadium Saturday night killed 29 people and wounded 166 others in the latest large-scale attack in a nation confronting an array of security threats.

The bombs targeted police officers, killing 27 of them along with two civilians, Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters early today. He added that 10 people had been arrested in the "terrorist attack."

The civilian death toll was lower because fans had already left the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium after the soccer match when the blasts occurred. Witnesses also heard gunfire after the explosions.

"We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples on every value and decency," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

The first bomb went off just outside the facility known popularly as Besiktas Stadium, named for the local team and neighborhood. The second blast that came moments later was attributed by authorities to a suicide bomber.

Police cordoned off the area as smoke rose from behind the stadium and ambulances began ferrying the wounded to hospitals.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. This year, Istanbul has witnessed a spate of attacks attributed by authorities to the Islamic State militant group or claimed by Kurdish militants. A state of emergency is in force after a failed July 15 coup attempt.

Soylu acknowledged that the country was struggling against "many elements" trying to compromise its fight against terrorism.

Turkey is a partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and its armed forces are active in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also facing a renewed conflict with an outlawed Kurdish movement in the southeast.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Washington condemns the attack in "the strongest terms." </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Besiktas TV presenter flees as blast hits stadium

A twin bomb attack on police officers outside a football stadium in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, has killed 38 people and injured many more.

A car bomb hit a police vehicle and a suicide bomber detonated a suicide vest in quick succession late on Saturday.

The blasts occurred near the stadium of top-division team Besiktas, two hours after a match. Ten arrests were made.

The government says initial findings point towards Kurdish militants, who have targeted police in the past.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told CNN Turk news channel that "arrows point" to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

Thirty of those killed in the attack were police officers, officials say.

A further 155 people were being treated in hospital, 14 of them in intensive care, health officials say.

Photographs posted on Instagram after the explosion showed helmets strewn on a road and damaged vehicles.

No group has said it was behind the attack but a wave of bombings in Turkey this year has been carried out both by the PKK and so-called Islamic State (IS), says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark Lowen reported on the Besiktas bombing some 90 minutes after the attack

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the explosions "aimed to maximise casualties".

But they came two hours after the end of the match between top teams Bursaspor at Besiktas at the Vodafone Arena.

Local media reported that fans had already dispersed. Bursaspor posted on Twitter that it knew of no injuries to its supporters.

Deadly attacks in Turkey this year

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Scene of explosion in Ankara's central Kizilay district on 13 March

20 August: Bomb attack on wedding party in Gaziantep kills at least 30 people, IS suspected

30 July: 35 Kurdish fighters who try to storm a military base are killed by the Turkish army

28 June: A gun and bomb attack on Ataturk airport in Istanbul kills 41 people, in an attack blamed on IS militants

13 March: 37 people are killed by Kurdish militants in a suicide car bombing in Ankara

17 February: 28 people die in an attack on a military convoy in Ankara

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The attack appears to have targeted riot police </s> Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) Thirty-eight people, mostly police officers, were killed and 155 wounded in Saturday's twin bombings in Istanbul, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in a press conference Sunday.

The explosions, one large blast followed by a smaller one, occurred about 11 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET) after a heavily attended football game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena.

According to Soylu, a remote control detonated a car bomb for the explosion. Shortly afterward, a suicide bomber caused a second explosion at Macka Park. The two locations are less than a mile apart.

No group has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings but ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have staged attacks in Turkey over the past year.

Thirteen people have have been arrested in connection with the blasts, Soylu said.

"The evidence so far points to the PKK, the ministry has some of the information on framework about how it was planned and organized but for the sake of the investigation please forgive that I won't share any details." Soylu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ally to the United States in the fight against ISIS, issued a statement prior to the news conference saying Istanbul had once again "witnessed the ugliest face of terror stepping on all values and morals. ... Together with the help of Allah, as a country and a nation, we will overcome terror, terror organizations, terrorists and the ... powers behind them."

The Turkish prime minister's office said in a statement, a day of national mourning has been declared on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Video showed a chaotic scene outside Besiktas Vodafone Arena as police converged on the area and emergency medical workers loaded victims into ambulances. Several blocks away, police towed cars parked at Taksim Square, a popular tourist area, as a precaution.

Of those killed, 30 were police officers, Soylu said. Seventeen people are presently undergoing operation for their wounds, according to Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ, who also spoke at Sunday's press conference.

Istanbul's team Besiktas had played Bursaspor in a Turkey League game that night at the football arena. The arena, which seats more than 40,000 people, had been renovated and reopened in April.

The Bursaspor football club issued a statement saying the explosion happened "close to the away team stands where our supporters were. We have received the news that around five minutes before the explosion took place, our supporters left the premises."

Christopher James, a freelance writer and teacher living in Istanbul, told CNN he was at a hotel not far from the arena when the blasts occurred.

"We could hear and see the boom, and then after the boom the sound came back towards us," he said. "It sounded like gunshots reverberating and then my phone started buzzing like crazy."

Ramazan Hakki Oztan, a historian from Istanbul who was attending a casual gathering near the arena, also saw the explosions.

"We were at this hotel with this nice view of the old city by Taksim Square," he said. "We saw this huge explosion that happened by the stadium ... and 10 seconds or 15 seconds after there was another explosion. ... The second bomb was smaller in size."

He said he was near the arena earlier in the day and noticed a heavy police presence.

"I think they targeted the cops that were out there by the stadium who were protecting the spectators," he said.

Following the explosions, the US Consulate in Istanbul tweeted: "Please avoid the area, monitor local press reporting, and let friends and family know you are OK."

Erdogan declared a state of emergency following the coup attempt and authorities carried out a large number of arrests.

ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead and an explosion at an August wedding in Gaziantep, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.

Meanwhile, Turkish security forces continue to clash on a almost daily basis with PKK militants, mostly in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish army suspects the PKK was behind a September car bombing that killed at least 18 people in the same part of the country. Other attacks have targeted Turkish police and army assets.

Beyond those bombings, the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts have trickled into Turkey, leading to a surge in violence as the nation plays has played host to millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The US government two months ago ordered all civilian family members of its Istanbul consulate staff to leave Turkey because of increasing threats from terrorist organization.

This past spring the Pentagon ordered family members to leave Incirlik Airbase in southeast Turkey and the State Department ordered families of employees of the US consulate in Adana to evacuate.

In an address on Saturday, Erdogan said, "It does not matter what is the name and the method of the terror organization who conducted the terror attack. Whenever Turkey takes a positive step towards the future the answer comes as blood savagery and chaos."

During his statement, he called out ISIS, PKK and a movement affiliated with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for targeting Turkey. Erdogan has accused Gulen's movement of being involved in the failed coup.

UEFA, European football's governing body, said on its verified Twitter account: "UEFA would like to express its deepest condolences to the families of all the victims of tonight's bombing in Istanbul. We strongly condemn this horrible act and send our support to the Turkish Football Federation, Besiktas and Bursaspor football clubs." </s> Police officers, rescue officials, firefighters and officials surround the scene of blast in Istanbul, Turkey, October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A bomb attached to a motorbike exploded near a police station in southwest Istanbul on Thursday wounding 10 people, the provincial governor said.

The blast occurred in the Yenibosna neighborhood, several kilometers from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, the country’s largest. Television footage showed damaged vehicles, shattered glass and broken windows in the residential area.

Governor Vasip Sahin said all of the wounded were civilians and that investigations into who might be responsible were ongoing. There were no immediate claims of responsibility on Thursday.

Kurdish, leftist and Islamic State militants have all carried out bomb attacks across Turkey in the past.

The last blast in Istanbul was in June, a month before an attempted coup to overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, when 45 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing at the airport. That attack was blamed on Islamic State.

There have been other attacks in the east of the country, including the bombing of a wedding party near the city of Gaziantep in August, when more than 50 people were killed. </s> Thirteen soldiers were killed and 48 others wounded in a blast in the Turkish city of Kayseri, according to a statement released by Turkey's Armed Forces. The statement adds that civilians might also have been wounded in the blast.

A car bomb exploded near a public bus in Turkey on Saturday, killing and wounding several people, according to the country's Anadolu state news agency.

A vehicle rigged with a bomb exploded next to the bus -- which was transporting off-duty soldiers, the news agency reported. The blast happened near Erciyes University in the central province of Kayseri, according to a tweet from Anadolu.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım are being briefed on the situation, according to the news agency. More than 25 people were wounded, Reuters reported. Immediately after the blast, at least a half dozen ambulances arrived on the scene. Images showed people with head wounds and at least one person being taken away on a stretcher. The attack came exactly a week after a pair of bombings in Istanbul killed 44 people, including 37 police officers, and injured 155 others. The two explosions last Saturday occurred after a heavily attended soccer game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena. A Kurdish militant group called the Kurdish Freedom Hawks claimed responsibility for last week's bombings. It stated on its website that the Turkish people were not the target of the attack. The latest violence follows a wave of deadly bombings that have struck Turkey this year. </s> Forensic officials work next to bodies in front of a water cannon vehicle on the site where a car bomb exploded near the stadium of football club Besiktas in central Istanbul on Saturday.

Twenty nine people were killed, mainly police officers, and 166 wounded in double bombings that struck Istanbul Saturday after a home football match hosted by top side Besiktas, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Twenty seven of those killed were policemen and two were civilians, he told reporters in Istanbul, adding that 10 suspects had already been detained over the bombing.

Mr. Soylu said the first blast was caused by a car bomb that struck outside Besiktas's football stadium.

It was followed 45 seconds later by another attack at nearby Macka Park, carried out by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the midst of police officers.

The Minister said the government suspects the two bombings were linked.

The authorities did not say who was behind the blasts but the attacks were the latest in a year that has seen Istanbul and other Turkish cities rocked by a string of attacks blamed on Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish militants.

"An act of terror targeted our security forces and citizens at Besiktas tonight," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

Mr. Erdogan said the blasts shortly after the end of the match sought to cause maximum loss of life.

"We have witnessed once more here in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples down any form of value and morals," he said.

Mr. Soylu said one blast took place outside the stadium and another at Macka Park, a popular meeting place just above the sports venue.

"I heard two explosions in less than one minute, followed by the sound of gunshots," one witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Besiktas football club issued a statement condemning the attack and confirming none of the fans or players were hurt.

"Terrorists... attacked our heroic security forces who ensure that both our fans and Bursaspor's supporters are safe. We will stand firm against the vile attackers who will never achieve their goal."

Police cordoned off the area around the stadium immediately after the blasts, which occurred near the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace that houses Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's offices in Istanbul.

The scene is also about a kilometre from the busy Taksim Square, a magnet for tourists.

Mr. Erdogan was in Istanbul at the time of the blast at his residence in the suburb of Tarabya further down the Bosphorus, state media said.

The government slapped a broadcast ban on footage of the attack, as is becoming typical in the aftermath of major incidents in the country.

In June, 47 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, with authorities blaming IS.

Another 57 people, 34 of them children, were killed in August in a suicide attack by an IS-linked bomber at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

But there have also been deadly bombings claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen as a splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The U.S. embassy in Turkey condemned the latest attack.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the people of #Istanbul tonight," the embassy wrote on Twitter. "We condemn tonight's cowardly attack, and salute the courage of the Turkish people as we stand with them against terror."

Turkey is still reeling from a failed July 15, 2016 coup blamed by the government on the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen that has been followed by a relentless purge of his alleged supporters from state institutions.

Saturday's attack came after the Turkish Army and its Syrian rebel allies on Saturday entered the IS bastion of Al-Bab in northern Syria, according to a monitoring group.

Al-Bab is the last bastion IS has in Syria's northern Aleppo province.

The explosions also came hours after Turkey's ruling party submitted a parliamentary bill that would expand the powers — and possibly the tenure — of Mr. Erdogan, a move his opponents fear will lead to one-man rule. </s> ISTANBUL — One or more suicide bombers blew themselves up during a Turkish police raid Sunday against a suspected Islamic State militant cell in a city near Syrian border, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

At least 10 people, including civilians and police, were wounded in the explosion in Gaziantep city, the private Dogan news agency reported. Two of them were in serious condition.

Anadolu said police received a tip about a group of IS militants hiding in a house in Gaziantep's Sahinbey district and launched an operation to apprehend them. The militants blew themselves up when they understood that they could not escape, the agency reported.

The report said police launched the operation following a tip the group could be planning an attack on an Alawite cultural association in the city.

Turkey has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks over the past year, carried out by IS or Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

In August, 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up during an outdoor wedding celebration in Gaziantep. Authorities said the attack was the work of the IS group.
The death toll from the bombings in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, rises to at least 44, according to Health Minister Recep Akdağ.