An explosion that killed at least six people and injured more than 80 others in Istanbul on Sunday has been deemed a terrorist attack, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said, according to state news agency Anadolu.
“We consider it to be a terrorist act as a result of an attacker, whom we consider to be a woman, detonating the bomb,” Oktay told reporters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said earlier that the blast “smells like terrorism,” Anadolu reported. Erdoğan spoke just before leaving for Indonesia to attend the G20 summit.
The blast occurred at about 4:20 p.m. local time on a shopping street near Taksim Square, the news agency said, citing Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya. Police and emergency officials cordoned off the scene.
Istanbul’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation.