Thirteen killed in Istanbul bomb blasts

Thirteen people were killed and 70 were wounded yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey, in two bomb explosions, news broadcaster NTV quoted Istanbul governor Muammer Guler as saying.

TV footage showed the injured lying on the street and others being carried in blankets while ambulances ferried badly wounded people to hospital after the explosions at two different sites in the Gungoren district of Turkey's biggest city.

The victims were killed by the second explosion after a small explosion in a telephone kiosk brought people out onto the street, the TV said.

Several groups, including Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamists, have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past.