A female suicide bomber has blown herself up in a historic district of Turkey's fourth largest city, wounding 13 people.
The assailant was "aged about 25", and only fragments were left of her body after the attack in the city of Bursa, according to Turkey's health minister, Mehmet Muezzinoglu.
He said 13 individuals were injured in the attack, but none of them are in critical condition. Another seven people sought medical attention over ear pain and hearing problems as a consequence of the blast.
Turkey, which is facing growing difficulties stemming from the conflict in Syria and renewed conflict with Kurdish militants, has recently witnessed a surge of such attacks. In the past year, more than 200 people across the country have been killed in seven suicide bombings.
Bursa governor Munir Karaloglu said authorities are still trying to determine the identity and affiliation of the attacker.
He denied reports that two other accomplices were seen fleeing the scene, saying they were citizens fleeing in panic and that the woman acted alone.
The explosion ripped through an area that is home to an Ottoman-era mosque and bazaar in the north-western city, which is a popular tourist destination for both locals and foreigners.
Turkish TV channels broadcast footage of people fleeing the area as police and ambulances rushed to the scene.
The attack occurred a day after the United States issued a new warning to its citizens about "credible indications" of terrorist threats against tourist areas in Turkey.
Kurdish militants, who have been fighting state security forces in a renewed conflict in the south-east, have claimed two such attacks recently.
But the main perpetrator, according to Turkish authorities, has been Islamic State (IS), which controls territory in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
The extremist group is known to have cells in Turkey but never claimed responsibility for any of the suicide attacks on Turkish soil.
Speaking in Ankara before travelling to Qatar, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu stressed "these terror attacks will not cause Turkey to step of back from its resolute stance to fight terrorism".
Turkey is a member of the US-led coalition against IS, allowing allied jets to carry out bombing runs against the militants from its bases.
Turkish tanks periodically fire at IS targets in Syria in response to cross-border missiles which have claimed 18 lives in the border town of Kilis this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article