UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned deadly terrorist attacks in Istanbul, with the hope that the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice.
“The secretary-general condemns today’s terrorist attacks in Istanbul, reportedly targeting Turkish police personnel, in which dozens of people were killed and injured,” a statement issued here by the secretary-general’s spokesman said.
Ban expressed his “deepest sympathy and condolences” to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Turkey, and wishes a quick recovery to those injured, said the statement.
Two bomb blasts outside a football stadium in central Istanbul on Saturday night have left 38 dead and 166 others injured, according to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
The minister told a press conference that a moving car was detonated targeting riot police on duty near a stadium in the district of Besiktas, where a football match ended about one and half an hour before.
Istanbul and the Turkish capital Ankara have come under a spate of deadly attacks over the past year. Istanbul was last attacked in late June, when three suicide bombers assaulted the city’s major international airport and killed 45 people.
