(UPDATED Dec 11, 6:10am EST) Toll in Istanbul Blasts Now 29 dead -- 27 police -- and 166 wounded

UPDATE
Death toll now at 38.  Hurriyet Daily News. other sources
http://pundita.blogspot.com/2016/12/latest-death-toll-from-istanbul.html

This was a 'complex' terror attack -- complex meaning the use of more than one type of  tactic. Complex attacks are an Al Qaeda hallmark, although Haqqani Network, linked to AQ, also specializes in that kind of attack. So while Erdogan will probably be quick to point the finger at the Kurdish resistance and/or the Gulenists, I wouldn't be too sure at this stage. 

I note they've already arrested 10 suspects. But if this attack is as sophisticated as it sounds, I'd take those arrests at this early stage with a grain of salt, unless they caught shooters. The first Sputnik report on the incident mentioned that gunfire had been heard around the time of the bomb blasts; it's not mentioned in the very brief updated report below

In any case there's now no question that Istanbul police were the target of the attack.   

Sputnik

04:38 - 11.12.2016 (updated 05:09 - 11.12.2016) 

Some 29 people, including 27 police officers, have been killed and 166 other injured in a car bomb and a suicide bombing that shook Istanbul on December 10, the country's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced.

Soylu announced that ten suspects in the deadly attacks have been taken into custody.

[...]

Two massive explosions rocked Turkey's largest city after a football match at Vodafone arena. The target was a van full of police leaving the stadium after having provided security, Soylu said.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurman Kurtulmus said the attack comprised a car bomb outside the stadium in the city's Besiktas district, followed 45 seconds later by a suicide bomber nearby. 

 Soylu called the attacks "a cruel plot" and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement after the tragedy that it had been designed to "maximize" casualties.

[END REPORT]

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