Istanbul terror attacks death toll rises to 44

The  death toll in the Sunday Istanbul terror attacks rose to 44 on Monday, according to the official Turkey news agency Anadolu.

The casualties include 36 police officers and 8 civilians killed, the agency reported.

On Saturday, two massive car bombs ripped through a soccer stadium in the heart of Istanbul.

A Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility Sunday for a double bombing that also wounded 154 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium.

The group — Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK — said in a statement that two of its members had carried out the suicide attacks in retaliation for state violence in the predominantly Kurdish region in southeast Turkey.

The group also cited the continuing imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

The Kurdish Freedom Falcons, which claimed responsibility in June for a car bombing in Istanbul that killed at least 11 people, is considered an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had blamed the PKK for the twin bombings Saturday night.

Turkish officials said the two suicide attacks were carried out near to the Vodafone Arena stadium. One of them included the detonation of nearly 1,000 pounds of explosives in a vehicle, and the other was caused by a suicide bomber who targeted police officers after a soccer game

The government declared a national day of mourning Sunday, and top Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attended funeral services held at Istanbul's Police Headquarters.

"They should know that they would not get away with this; they will pay heavier prices," Erdogan said after visiting the wounded at an Istanbul hospital.

"They attacked vilely, perfidiously at two spots against those young lions, who were preparing to get on their buses."

So far, authorities have detained 13 people in connection with the attacks, the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said.

Surge in violence

Violence has surged in southeastern Turkey and spilled over to western cities since the government started a counterinsurgency campaign against the PKK after the group ended a two-year cease-fire in July 2015

Turkey has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks this year that officials have attributed to Kurdish militants and the Islamic State. And the government's crackdown and consolidation of power after an attempted coup over the summer has further set the country on edge.

On Sunday, video footage published by local news media showed one of the alleged suicide bombers in Saturday's attack walking alongside a road when several police officers stopped him just before he detonated his explosives.

"All terror organizations are attacking our nation and our people for the same goal," Erdogan said in a statement after the attacks.

"Whenever Turkey takes a positive step with regards to its future, a response comes immediately before us in the form of blood, lives, savagery and chaos at the hands of terrorist organizations

source : gulfnews