Number of Germans killed in Istanbul rises to 10

This was announced by Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala on Wednesday during a joint press conference with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere. He also said 11 people had been killed in the attack, that’s one more than the figure released Tuesday.

Earlier, Germany’s interior minister said there are no indications so far that Germans were specifically targeted in the attack in Istanbul.

“The terrorists are the enemies of all free people, they are enemies of humanity, be it in Syria, Turkey or France or Germany”, Merkel said, stressing that Berlin would fight terror “with determination”.

Turkish authorities have identified Tuesday’s bomber as a Syrian man born in 1988 who had recently entered Turkey, and officials say he had IS links.

Davutoğlu said on Wednesday that Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war had become a barrier to Turkish air strikes against Isis, and that the Russian air force appeared to be protecting the radical Sunni militants.

Turkish media however have named him as Nabil Fadli, born in Saudi Arabia. The private Dogan news agency said the dead included the wife of a policeman and a 5-months-old baby who were killed at the police lodgings and two children who died in the collapsed house. The Daily Mail reports photos taken after the attack “showed corpses and body parts strewn across a square near iconic sites including the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia museum”. Turkish authorities have since detained three Russian nationals suspected of being linked to ISIS in the provinces of Antalya and İzmir.

Despite criticism from Western allies that it was not doing enough in the fight against IS, Turkey is now hosting aircraft from the US-led coalition engaged in deadly attacks on the militant group strongholds. Officials confirmed that the bomber registered with a refugee agency in Turkey, but was not on any Turkish or worldwide IS watch lists.

They are suspected of having links to Islamic State but it is unclear if there is a direct link to the Istanbul bombing.

Turkey has been on high security alert since more than 100 people were killed in twin blasts in Ankara last October.

“If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the cooperation between partners, then they achieved the opposite”, de Maiziere said on Wednesday.

And a week before the attack, 220 people “identified” as IS members were detained in Turkey, the interior minister said on Wednesday. “We ask all Germans travelling to Istanbul that they take the advise and the security information provided by the (Foreign) Ministry and follow it strictly”, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister.

Yeni Safak: “Targeting Turkey’s most important tourist centre is a new type of act…” Two of the injured German citizens were in critical condition.

“Turkey will continue to punish with even greater force any threat that is directed against Turkey or its guests”, Davutoglu said.