Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Besiktas TV presenter flees as blast hits stadium

A twin bomb attack on police officers outside a football stadium in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, has killed 38 people and injured many more.

A car bomb hit a police vehicle and a suicide bomber detonated a suicide vest in quick succession late on Saturday.

The blasts occurred near the stadium of top-division team Besiktas, two hours after a match. Ten arrests were made.

The government says initial findings point towards Kurdish militants, who have targeted police in the past.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told CNN Turk news channel that "arrows point" to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

Thirty of those killed in the attack were police officers, officials say.

A further 155 people were being treated in hospital, 14 of them in intensive care, health officials say.

Photographs posted on Instagram after the explosion showed helmets strewn on a road and damaged vehicles.

No group has said it was behind the attack but a wave of bombings in Turkey this year has been carried out both by the PKK and so-called Islamic State (IS), says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mark Lowen reported on the Besiktas bombing some 90 minutes after the attack

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the explosions "aimed to maximise casualties".

But they came two hours after the end of the match between top teams Bursaspor at Besiktas at the Vodafone Arena.

Local media reported that fans had already dispersed. Bursaspor posted on Twitter that it knew of no injuries to its supporters.

Deadly attacks in Turkey this year

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Scene of explosion in Ankara's central Kizilay district on 13 March

20 August: Bomb attack on wedding party in Gaziantep kills at least 30 people, IS suspected

30 July: 35 Kurdish fighters who try to storm a military base are killed by the Turkish army

28 June: A gun and bomb attack on Ataturk airport in Istanbul kills 41 people, in an attack blamed on IS militants

13 March: 37 people are killed by Kurdish militants in a suicide car bombing in Ankara

17 February: 28 people die in an attack on a military convoy in Ankara

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The attack appears to have targeted riot police</s>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two bombs exploded less than a minute apart, killing 29 people and wounding 166 outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul on Saturday night, in a co-ordinated attack on police shortly after a match between two of Turkey’s top teams.

First a car bomb exploded outside the Vodafone Arena, home to Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer team, leaving flaming wreckage on the street. Forty-five seconds later, a suspect wearing explosives detonated them while surrounded by police in an adjacent park, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference.

President Tayyip Erdogan described the blasts as a terrorist attack on police and civilians. He said the aim of the bombings, two hours after the end of a match attended by thousands of people, had been to cause the maximum number of casualties.

“Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organisations ... and the forces behind them,” he said in a statement.

The attack shook a soccer-mad nation still trying to recover from a series of deadly bombings this year in cities including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, some blamed on the Islamic State jihadist group and others claimed by Kurdish militants.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the blasts came less than a week after Islamic State urged its supporters to target Turkey’s “security, military, economic and media establishment”.

“It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque,” said Omer Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque, directly across the road from the stadium.

“People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible,” he told Reuters.

A damaged vehicle is seen after a blast in Istanbul, Turkey, December 10, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey is a member of the NATO military alliance and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. 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.

VICTIMS MAINLY POLICE

Interior Minister Suleyman 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.

Two of those killed in the blasts were civilians. The other 27 were police officers, including a police chief and another senior officer, Soylu said. He said 17 of the wounded were undergoing surgery and another six were in intensive care.

Soylu also said 10 people had been detained based on evidence from the detonated vehicle, but gave no indication of who the authorities thought might be behind the attack.

A Reuters photographer said many riot police officers were seriously wounded. Armed police sealed off streets. 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.

“Those attacking our nation’s unity and solidarity will never win,” Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said on Twitter. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan, also writing on Twitter, described it as a terrorist attack.

Slideshow (10 Images)

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.

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, as rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets in a bid to seize power.

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.</s>ATLANTA (AP) — Former congressional candidate Jon Ossoff says he will challenge Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue in 2020.

The Georgia Democrat tweeted Monday night that he has, "some big...</s>ISTANBUL — Turkey declared a national day of mourning, launched a full investigation and paid tribute to the dead Sunday after two bombings in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded 155 others near a soccer stadium. The attack was claimed by a Turkey-based Kurdish militant group.

In a statement posted on its website, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, said two of its members had sacrificed their lives in the Saturday night attack that targeted security forces outside a stadium shortly after the conclusion of a soccer match.

“Two of our comrades were heroically martyred in the attack,” the statement read. It said the attack was reprisal for state violence in the southeast and the ongoing imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. TAK is considered by authorities as a PKK offshoot.

The attack seemed to corroborate the official version of events although it gave a higher toll for the dead and wounded.

The twin car-and-suicide bombings Saturday night near the Besiktas stadium enraged top officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. The attack was the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats.

The attack targeted police officers, killing 30 of them along with seven civilians and an unidentified person, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters Sunday. He said 13 people had been arrested in connection with the “terrorist attack” and that authorities had some insight into how and when it was planned.

Senior officials had quickly said they suspected Kurdish militants were behind the violence.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that “arrows point to the PKK,” the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency. That assessment was echoed by Erdogan and Soylu.

“Our friends’ evaluations suggest that the PKK was the perpetrator. There is a framework as to how the act was planned, when it was planned and how it was executed,” Soylu said, declining to disclose details for fear of compromising the investigation.

In a furious address Sunday at a funeral for the slain police officers, Soylu slammed Kurdish rebels and their allies in the West, referring to the PKK as “animals.”

“Have you accomplished anything beyond being the servants, pawns and hit men of certain dark forces, of your dark Western partners?” he asked.

The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, a battle that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of citizens. Turkish officials frequently accuse the West of directly and indirectly supporting the Kurdish insurgency and of interfering in Ankara’s fight against terrorism.

Erdogan vowed his country would fight “the curse of terrorism till the end” after paying a visit to some of the wounded at Haseki Hospital in Istanbul.

Surrounded by a crowd chanting his name and “God is great!”, Erdogan vowed that the perpetrators would be found and forced to “pay an even heavier price.”

Hundreds of flag-carrying demonstrators marched Sunday along Istanbul’s coastline toward the stadium at the heart of the blast area. Flags flew at half-staff across the country and at Turkey’s foreign missions. Passers-by placed flowers on barriers surrounding the soccer stadium.

The first and larger explosion took place about 10:30 p.m. Saturday after the home team Besiktas beat visitor Bursaspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super League. Erdogan said the timing of the attack aimed to maximize the loss of life but most fans had left before the explosions.

Soylu said the first explosion was caused by a passing vehicle that detonated in an area where police special forces were located at the stadium exit. A riot police bus appears to have been the target.

Moment later, a person who had been stopped in nearby Macka Park committed suicide by triggering explosives, according to the minister.

Soylu said 136 people remained hospitalized Sunday after the attack, including 14 in intensive care.

Forensic experts in white uniforms worked overnight, scouring the vicinity of the stadium and the vast park where the suicide bombing took place. Glass from the blown-out windows of nearby buildings littered the pavement.

Experts have determined that up to 880 pounds of explosives were used in the car bomb, Kurtulmus told CNN Turk.

Vehicle and pedestrian traffic tentatively resumed Sunday in the blast area.

At noon, to the mournful sound of trumpets, funeral services were held at Istanbul’s police headquarters for some of the slain police officers with the country’s top brass in attendance. Their comrades solemnly carried the coffins, which were draped in the Turkish flag, as a sea of mourners wept around them.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Erdogan was presiding over a security meeting in Istanbul on Sunday.

This year Istanbul has seen a spate of attacks attributed by authorities to the Islamic State group or claimed by Kurdish militants. A state of emergency is in force following a failed July 15 coup attempt and the resulting government crackdown on alleged coup sympathizers has landed thousands in jail and forced tens of thousands of people from their jobs. Critics call the move a witch hunt.

Saturday’s bombings were one of the bloodiest to hit the bustling city at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. A triple suicide-and-gun attack on the city’s Ataturk Airport in June killed 44 people and wounded scores of others. Kurdish-linked militants have claimed other deadly attacks in Ankara, Istanbul and areas in southeast Turkey.

The steady stream of violence has delivered a bitter blow to Turkey’s tourism sector, a mainstay of the country’s economy.

Turkey is a partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and its armed forces are active in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also facing a renewed conflict with an outlawed Kurdish movement in the southeast.

The attack was condemned by a range of Turkish politicians, by sports organizations like Besiktas, Bursaspor and UEFA, and by U.S., EU and Israeli officials.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People Democratic Party, or HDP, issued a statement “strongly condemning” the attacks and saying it “felt great sadness and shared in the sorrow.”

Turkish authorities have routinely accused the party of being linked to the PKK and backing terrorism. The party, which had both of its leaders detained in terror probes and multiple elected officials arrested or removed from office in the southeast, denies the charge.

The chair of the main opposition Republican People’s Party also condemned the attack.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Washington condemned the attack in “the strongest terms.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at his Cabinet meeting Sunday that “Israel condemns any terror in Turkey, and Israel expects Turkey to condemn any act of terror in Israel. The battle against terror must be mutual.”

“Violence has no place in a democratic society,” European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn wrote on Twitter.

Turkey’s radio and television board imposed a temporary coverage ban immediately after the attack, citing national security concerns. Three people were detained for social media posts relating to the blasts, according to Istanbul prosecutors.</s>Forensic officials work next to bodies in front of a water cannon vehicle on the site where a car bomb exploded near the stadium of football club Besiktas in central Istanbul on Saturday.

Twenty nine people were killed, mainly police officers, and 166 wounded in double bombings that struck Istanbul Saturday after a home football match hosted by top side Besiktas, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Twenty seven of those killed were policemen and two were civilians, he told reporters in Istanbul, adding that 10 suspects had already been detained over the bombing.

Mr. Soylu said the first blast was caused by a car bomb that struck outside Besiktas's football stadium.

It was followed 45 seconds later by another attack at nearby Macka Park, carried out by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the midst of police officers.

The Minister said the government suspects the two bombings were linked.

The authorities did not say who was behind the blasts but the attacks were the latest in a year that has seen Istanbul and other Turkish cities rocked by a string of attacks blamed on Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish militants.

"An act of terror targeted our security forces and citizens at Besiktas tonight," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

Mr. Erdogan said the blasts shortly after the end of the match sought to cause maximum loss of life.

"We have witnessed once more here in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples down any form of value and morals," he said.

Mr. Soylu said one blast took place outside the stadium and another at Macka Park, a popular meeting place just above the sports venue.

"I heard two explosions in less than one minute, followed by the sound of gunshots," one witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Besiktas football club issued a statement condemning the attack and confirming none of the fans or players were hurt.

"Terrorists... attacked our heroic security forces who ensure that both our fans and Bursaspor's supporters are safe. We will stand firm against the vile attackers who will never achieve their goal."

Police cordoned off the area around the stadium immediately after the blasts, which occurred near the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace that houses Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's offices in Istanbul.

The scene is also about a kilometre from the busy Taksim Square, a magnet for tourists.

Mr. Erdogan was in Istanbul at the time of the blast at his residence in the suburb of Tarabya further down the Bosphorus, state media said.

The government slapped a broadcast ban on footage of the attack, as is becoming typical in the aftermath of major incidents in the country.

In June, 47 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, with authorities blaming IS.

Another 57 people, 34 of them children, were killed in August in a suicide attack by an IS-linked bomber at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

But there have also been deadly bombings claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen as a splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The U.S. embassy in Turkey condemned the latest attack.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the people of #Istanbul tonight," the embassy wrote on Twitter. "We condemn tonight's cowardly attack, and salute the courage of the Turkish people as we stand with them against terror."

Turkey is still reeling from a failed July 15, 2016 coup blamed by the government on the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen that has been followed by a relentless purge of his alleged supporters from state institutions.

Saturday's attack came after the Turkish Army and its Syrian rebel allies on Saturday entered the IS bastion of Al-Bab in northern Syria, according to a monitoring group.

Al-Bab is the last bastion IS has in Syria's northern Aleppo province.

The explosions also came hours after Turkey's ruling party submitted a parliamentary bill that would expand the powers — and possibly the tenure — of Mr. Erdogan, a move his opponents fear will lead to one-man rule.</s>ISTANBUL -- Twin attacks by a suicide bomber and a car bomber near an Istanbul soccer stadium Saturday night killed 29 people and wounded 166 others in the latest large-scale attack in a nation confronting an array of security threats.

The bombs targeted police officers, killing 27 of them along with two civilians, Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters early today. He added that 10 people had been arrested in the "terrorist attack."

The civilian death toll was lower because fans had already left the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium after the soccer match when the blasts occurred. Witnesses also heard gunfire after the explosions.

"We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples on every value and decency," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

The first bomb went off just outside the facility known popularly as Besiktas Stadium, named for the local team and neighborhood. The second blast that came moments later was attributed by authorities to a suicide bomber.

Police cordoned off the area as smoke rose from behind the stadium and ambulances began ferrying the wounded to hospitals.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. This year, Istanbul has witnessed a spate of attacks attributed by authorities to the Islamic State militant group or claimed by Kurdish militants. A state of emergency is in force after a failed July 15 coup attempt.

Soylu acknowledged that the country was struggling against "many elements" trying to compromise its fight against terrorism.

Turkey is a partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and its armed forces are active in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also facing a renewed conflict with an outlawed Kurdish movement in the southeast.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Washington condemns the attack in "the strongest terms."</s>ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has declared a national day of mourning after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 29 people and wounded 166 others near a soccer stadium.

The Sunday statement from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s office also ordered flags to fly at half-staff across the country and at Turkey’s foreign missions.

Twin attacks Saturday night by a car bomber and a suicide bomber near Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer stadium were the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but one official said suspicions were focused on Kurdish militants.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that “arrows point to the PKK.”

He was referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency.</s>Forensic officials work at the scene of explosions near the Besiktas football club stadium after attacks in Istanbul, late Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016. Two explosions struck Saturday night outside a major soccer stadium in Istanbul after fans had gone home, an attack that wounded about 20 police officers, Turkish authorities said. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Istanbul explosions within Turkey.

ISTANBUL -- Turkey has declared a national day of mourning after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 29 people and wounded 166 others near a soccer stadium.

The Sunday statement from Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's office also ordered flags to fly at half-staff across the country and at Turkey's foreign missions.

Twin attacks Saturday night by a car bomber and a suicide bomber near Istanbul's Besiktas soccer stadium were the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but one official said suspicions were focused on Kurdish militants.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the private news channel CNN Turk that "arrows point to the PKK."

He was referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency.

Two bombs exploded outside a major soccer stadium in Istanbul after fans had gone home Saturday night, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, a Turkish official said, citing health ministry figures. One of the blasts was thought to be a suicide bomber.

Police cordoned off the area as smoke rose from behind the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium, known colloquially as Besiktas Stadium after the local team. Witnesses also heard gunfire after the explosions. The second blast was thought to be a car bomb.

"We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples on every value and decency," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

The official who gave the toll of 15 dead and dozens wounded spoke on condition anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly on the issue. He cited health ministry figures.

The first and larger explosion took place about 10:30 p.m. after the home team Besiktas beat visitor Bursaspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super League. Erdogan said the timing of the attack aimed to maximize the loss of life and vowed the nation would overcome terrorism.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who gave an initial wounded toll of 20 police officers, rushed from Ankara to Istanbul.

"It is thought to be a car bomb at a point where our special forces police were located, right after the match at the exit where Bursaspor fans" had earlier left, Soylu was quoted as saying by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.

Speaking later to reporters in Istanbul, he said the first explosion took place on a hill adjacent to and overlooking the stadium. The second explosion struck Macka Park and was believed to be a suicide bomb.

The private NTV channel reported that the target of the first attack was a bus for riot police and said nearly 70 wounded were taken to hospitals.

Television images showed more than a dozen ambulances on a street hugging the stadium and a police helicopter flying overhead with its searchlights on. The window glass of nearby buildings was shattered by the blasts and coated the pavement. Investigators, including Istanbul Police Chief Mustafa Caliskan, were quickly on the scene.

Taxi driver Ismail Coskun said the force of the explosion caused him to hit his head on the taximeter and that his ears were still ringing from the blast and screaming that followed.

"Amid the screams I heard an officer saying 'do not shout! Do not make them (the perpetrators) be satisfied," he told The AP.

The Besiktas sports club "strongly condemned" the attack in a statement posted on its website while Bursaspor reported that none of the wounded were fans and issued a statement wishing "a speedy recovery to our wounded citizens."

Aleksander Ceferin, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA, and European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, also made statements condemning the attack.

"Violence has no place in a democratic society," Hahn wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, meanwhile, urged its citizens to avoid the area which is also home to a Ritz Carlton hotel.

Turkey's radio and television board issued a temporary coverage ban citing national security concerns. It said "to avoid broadcasts that can result in public fear, panic or chaos, or that will serve the aims of terrorist organizations."

Cinar Kiper in Istanbul and Rob Harris in London contributed reporting.</s>Two bombs have exploded outside a major football stadium in Istanbul after fans had gone home, killing 29 people and wounding scores more, Turkish officials said.

Police cordoned off the area as smoke rose from behind the newly built Vodafone Arena Stadium, known colloquially as Besiktas Stadium after the local team.

Witnesses also heard gunfire after the explosions, which apparently targeted police officers, and at least 166 were reported wounded.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement: “We have once again witnessed tonight in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples on every value and decency.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. This year, Istanbul has witnessed bombings attributed by authorities to Islamic State or claimed by Kurdish militants. A state of emergency is in force following a failed July 15 coup attempt.

Turkey is a partner in the US-led coalition against IS and its armed forces are active in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. It is also facing a renewed conflict with an outlawed Kurdish movement in the south east.

The first and larger explosion took place after home team Besiktas beat visitor Bursaspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super League. Without giving numbers, Mr Erdogan said the timing of the attack aimed to maximise the loss of life and vowed the nation would overcome terrorism.

“It is thought to be a car bomb at a point where our special forces were located, right after the match at the exit where Bursaspor fans had earlier left,” said Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu.

He told reporters in Istanbul the first explosion took place on a hill next to and overlooking the stadium. The second explosion struck Macka Park and was believed to be a suicide bomb.

The private NTV channel reported that the target of the first attack was a bus for riot police.

Kurdish militants often target security forces while IS-linked attacks have targeted tourists and the broader public.

Investigators, including Istanbul police chief Mustafa Caliskan, were quickly on the scene. Forensic experts in white uniforms scoured the vicinity of the stadium and the park where the suspected suicide bombing took place.

The Besiktas sports club “strongly condemned” the attack and said an employee of one of its stores was among the fatalities, as well as member of its congress who was responsible for security at the stadium.

Bursaspor reported that none of the wounded were its fans and issued a statement wishing “a speedy recovery to our wounded citizens”.

Those attacking our nation’s unity and solidarity will never win,” sports minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said on Twitter. Transport minister Ahmet Arslan, also writing on Twitter, described it as a terrorist attack.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg condemned what he described as “horrific acts of terror”, while European leaders also sent messages of solidarity.

Saturday night’s attacks 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, as rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets in a bid to seize power.

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.</s>Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) Thirty-eight people, mostly police officers, were killed and 155 wounded in Saturday's twin bombings in Istanbul, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in a press conference Sunday.

The explosions, one large blast followed by a smaller one, occurred about 11 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET) after a heavily attended football game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena.

According to Soylu, a remote control detonated a car bomb for the explosion. Shortly afterward, a suicide bomber caused a second explosion at Macka Park. The two locations are less than a mile apart.

No group has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings but ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have staged attacks in Turkey over the past year.

Thirteen people have have been arrested in connection with the blasts, Soylu said.

"The evidence so far points to the PKK, the ministry has some of the information on framework about how it was planned and organized but for the sake of the investigation please forgive that I won't share any details." Soylu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ally to the United States in the fight against ISIS, issued a statement prior to the news conference saying Istanbul had once again "witnessed the ugliest face of terror stepping on all values and morals. ... Together with the help of Allah, as a country and a nation, we will overcome terror, terror organizations, terrorists and the ... powers behind them."

The Turkish prime minister's office said in a statement, a day of national mourning has been declared on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Video showed a chaotic scene outside Besiktas Vodafone Arena as police converged on the area and emergency medical workers loaded victims into ambulances. Several blocks away, police towed cars parked at Taksim Square, a popular tourist area, as a precaution.

Of those killed, 30 were police officers, Soylu said. Seventeen people are presently undergoing operation for their wounds, according to Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ, who also spoke at Sunday's press conference.

Istanbul's team Besiktas had played Bursaspor in a Turkey League game that night at the football arena. The arena, which seats more than 40,000 people, had been renovated and reopened in April.

The Bursaspor football club issued a statement saying the explosion happened "close to the away team stands where our supporters were. We have received the news that around five minutes before the explosion took place, our supporters left the premises."

Christopher James, a freelance writer and teacher living in Istanbul, told CNN he was at a hotel not far from the arena when the blasts occurred.

"We could hear and see the boom, and then after the boom the sound came back towards us," he said. "It sounded like gunshots reverberating and then my phone started buzzing like crazy."

Ramazan Hakki Oztan, a historian from Istanbul who was attending a casual gathering near the arena, also saw the explosions.

"We were at this hotel with this nice view of the old city by Taksim Square," he said. "We saw this huge explosion that happened by the stadium ... and 10 seconds or 15 seconds after there was another explosion. ... The second bomb was smaller in size."

He said he was near the arena earlier in the day and noticed a heavy police presence.

"I think they targeted the cops that were out there by the stadium who were protecting the spectators," he said.

Following the explosions, the US Consulate in Istanbul tweeted: "Please avoid the area, monitor local press reporting, and let friends and family know you are OK."

Erdogan declared a state of emergency following the coup attempt and authorities carried out a large number of arrests.

ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead and an explosion at an August wedding in Gaziantep, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.

Meanwhile, Turkish security forces continue to clash on a almost daily basis with PKK militants, mostly in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish army suspects the PKK was behind a September car bombing that killed at least 18 people in the same part of the country. Other attacks have targeted Turkish police and army assets.

Beyond those bombings, the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts have trickled into Turkey, leading to a surge in violence as the nation plays has played host to millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The US government two months ago ordered all civilian family members of its Istanbul consulate staff to leave Turkey because of increasing threats from terrorist organization.

This past spring the Pentagon ordered family members to leave Incirlik Airbase in southeast Turkey and the State Department ordered families of employees of the US consulate in Adana to evacuate.

In an address on Saturday, Erdogan said, "It does not matter what is the name and the method of the terror organization who conducted the terror attack. Whenever Turkey takes a positive step towards the future the answer comes as blood savagery and chaos."

During his statement, he called out ISIS, PKK and a movement affiliated with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for targeting Turkey. Erdogan has accused Gulen's movement of being involved in the failed coup.

UEFA, European football's governing body, said on its verified Twitter account: "UEFA would like to express its deepest condolences to the families of all the victims of tonight's bombing in Istanbul. We strongly condemn this horrible act and send our support to the Turkish Football Federation, Besiktas and Bursaspor football clubs."
Two bombs, one detonated by a suicide bomber, near the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, kill at least 29 people and injure more than 150 others. Ten people have been arrested in relation to the bombings.