Istanbul police have detained three teenagers found in the basement of an apartment near the explosions in connection to bomb blasts that killed 17, a newspaper reported Monday.
Milliyet newspaper said the three, ages 16 and 17, were detained late Sunday following a tip from residents.
Turkish broadcaster NTV said the toll reached 17 after one person died from wounds sustained in the Sunday evening blasts in a working class neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul. More than a dozen people were seriously injured in the two explosions.
The newspaper report said the three teens had claimed they hid in the basement because they were frightened by the explosions.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his weekly Cabinet meeting to travel to Turkey’s largest city to visit the site of the blasts, a government official told Reuters.
The site was still cordoned off early on Monday and police were not allowing people into the area other than shop owners, as forensic teams examined the scene and police investigated security cameras in the largely residential area.
"We know the killers," Sabah newspaper said in a headline above a picture of bodies strewn across a busy pedestrian area where two bombs had torn through the crowds.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the deadliest in Turkey since 2003.
Source:Xinhua/Agencies
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