An explosion near a central subway station in Turkey’s capital is being investigated, but so far the cause of the blast remains unknown. It occurred in the Bayrampasa District of Istanbul.
There are media reports of at least six wounded, although Istanbul’s Governor Vasip Sahin said that only one citizen was slightly injured. Several Turkish news sources are reporting that at least one of the injured has died.
The metro lines in Istanbul have been canceled, and the windows of a train that was passing through the area when the explosion occurred are broken.
Ambulances and fire trucks have been dispatched to the scene.
There is speculation that the cause of the blast was a bomb, others claim a transformer blew up.
This story will be updated as information comes in.
UPDATE: Turkish television news shows reveal that small bits of metal, like bomb shrapnel, were found at the site, suggesting the source of the blast was a bomb. On Turkish social media, speculation is rife that the source of the bomb could either be ISIS or the PKK, the Kurdish insurgency group, in retaliation for the assassination of the beloved Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elci, who was killed in public on Nov. 28.
A Turkish citizen who requested his name not be used said he heard reports that the blast occurred just one minute after a Turkish police convoy passed, leading to speculation that the convoy was the target of the explosion.
UPDATE #2: The mayor of the district in which the explosion occurred stated, in a live televised news conference, that the source of the explosion was a pipe bomb, according to Reuters.
UPDATE #3: Two victims of the Istanbul train bombing are now reported dead.
