Series of explosions at hotels and gas storage
Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies) Simultaneous explosions rocked two hotels in Istanbul last night killing two people and injuring another 7. A gas storage facility on the outskirts of the city was hit soon after.
According to Celalettin Cerrah, Istanbul police chief, the hotel attacks occurred around 2 am and seem to be of a terrorist nature.
One explosion hit Hotel Pars in Laleli district causing the most damages and victims. It is popular among East European tourists. One of the victims was Turkish.
The other blast hit Hotel Star Holiday in historic Sultanahmet district near many of the city's Byzantine and Ottoman monuments. No one was killed but a few people were wounded.
The injured in the two explosions include two Dutch nationals, two Chinese, one Ukrainian, one Turkish, and one Turkmen.
Two more bombs exploded at a gas storage complex on the outskirts of Istanbul. According to the police, the attackers cut barbed wire to enter the compound and place two bombs. The explosions followed a telephone tip-off. A gas leak caused by the blasts was rapidly stopped.
Terrorists have targeted Istanbul in recent years. In November 2003, 4 suicide attackers struck two synagogues and branches of British banks killing 60 people and injuring another 500. In 1996 Islamic Jihad attacked another hotel in Laleli district killing 17 Ukrainian tourists in retaliation for the alleged role played by two Ukrainian spies in passing information to Russia about Turkish fighters involved in the Chechen war.
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