An offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility today for twin bombings that killed 38 people and wounded 155 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium, an attack for which the Turkish government vowed vengeance.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), which has claimed several other deadly attacks in Turkey this year, said in a statement on its website that it was behind last night's blasts, which shook a nation still trying to recover from a failed military coup and a number of bombings this year.
Yesterday's attacks took place near the Vodafone Arena, home to Istanbul's Besiktas soccer team, about two hours after a match at the stadium and appeared to target police officers.
The first was a car bomb outside the stadium, followed within a minute by a suicide bomb attack in an adjacent park.
TAK is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a violent, three-decade insurgency, mainly in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast.
"What we must focus on is this terror burden. Our people should have no doubt we will continue our battle against terror until the end," Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after meeting injured victims in an Istanbul hospital.
Speaking at a funeral for five of the police officers at the Istanbul police headquarters, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said: "Sooner or later we will have our vengeance. This blood will not be left on the ground, no matter what the price, what the cost."
Mr Soylu also warned those who would offer support to the attackers on social media or elsewhere; comments aimed at pro-Kurdish politicians that the government accuses of having links to the PKK.
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The blasts came less than a week after the so-called Islamic State urged its supporters to target Turkey's "security, military, economic and media establishment".
Turkey is a member of the NATO military alliance and part of the US-led coalition against IS.
It launched a military incursion into Syria in August against the radical Islamist group. It is also fighting a Kurdish militant insurgency in its own southeast.
Mr Soylu said the first explosion, which came around two hours after the end of the match between Besiktas and Bursaspor, was at an assembly point for riot police officers.
The second came as police surrounded the suicide bomber in the nearby Macka park.
Seven of those killed in the blasts were civilians, 30 were police officers, including a police chief and another senior officer, with one unidentified person.
A Reuters photographer said many riot police officers were seriously wounded.
A police water cannon doused the wreckage of a burned-out car and there were two separate fires on the road outside the stadium.
Bursaspor said none of its fans appeared to have been injured. Both it and Besiktas condemned the bombings.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned what he described as "horrific acts of terror", while European leaders also sent messages of solidarity.
The United States condemned the attack and said it stood with its NATO ally.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan also condemned the attacks, adding "that we, along with other European Union member states, stand in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism".
The bombings come five months after Turkey was shaken by a failed military coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, many of them in Istanbul.
Istanbul has seen several other attacks this year, including in June, when around 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded as three suspected Islamic State militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on its main Ataturk airport.
