“Was shopping there” – Austrian escaped terrorist attack in Istanbul

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a “sneaky attack”. It might be wrong to talk definitively about terrorism, he said. But “there is a smell of terror in the air,” said the head of state. Surveillance footage from the crime scene shows that a backpack left at the crime scene has exploded. A female suspect detonated the bomb, Vice President Fuat Oktay announced. Video footage showed a suspect sitting on a couch for about 40 minutes and getting back up minutes before the blast, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

The waiter heard a loud bang, after which people ran away
Unverified images shared on social media showed a fireball in the middle of the busy street. Other images, also initially unverified, showed people covered in blood lying motionless on the ground. A waiter at a restaurant near the scene of the attack reported hearing a loud bang and seeing people running.

The state broadcaster TRT reported that rescue workers and the police had been deployed en masse to the scene. Helicopters flew over the Beyoglu district and adjacent parts of the city. To prevent panic among the population, the broadcaster introduced a temporary news blackout. 33-year-old Paul Reiter from Lower Austria was barely aware of all the chaos. He had been in the area shortly before the murder. “We were still shopping there shortly before the explosion. It’s just awful. We are very happy that nothing happened to us,” Reiter said, audibly relieved to the “Krone”.

Incidentally, the shopping street was the target of an attack for the second time. A 33-year-old Turk and IS supporter killed four people and injured 30 in 2016.