Istanbul (The Hawk): Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reported on Sunday that there had been a "bomb attack" in Istanbul that left at least six people dead and 53 injured.
The President was quoted by the Ihlas News Agency as saying, "Security and health units were sent to the scene of the incident immediately after the dastardly attack, and the wounded were rapidly taken to the nearby hospitals."
Terrorist attempts to seize control of Turkey will fail, Erdogan continued.
Erdogan made the remarks at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport before departing for Indonesia to attend the forthcoming G20 conference, according to the Xinhua news agency.
At 4:10 p.m. local time, the explosion occurred on the city's busy pedestrian Istiklal avenue on the European side.
Local media stated that the blast's audible tremors spread terror throughout the whole Beyoglu district.
(Inputs from Agencies)