Qatar has expressed strong condemnation of the explosion in the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa yesterday.
A female suicide bomber wounded eight people when she blew herself up near the main mosque in the city.
In a statement, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that “such acts, which aim to terrorise the innocents and destabilise peace and security, contradict all values, ethics and humanitarian principles and divine religions”.
The Foreign Ministry expressed Qatar’s “solidarity with the brotherly Republic of Turkey” and “support to all measures it takes to face such criminal acts which aim to shake its security and stability”.
The statement expressed the sincere condolences of the government and people of Qatar to the victims’ families, the Turkish government and people, wishing the injured speedy recovery.
The local governor’s office said the woman was thought to have detonated a device she was wearing at 5:26pm local time near the western gate of Bursa’s Grand Mosque.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said eight people were wounded, reducing the toll from 13
given by the health minister earlier.
“This was an attack aimed at our nation, our people, our peace. Eight of our citizens were wounded. Thank God, no citizen was critically wounded,” Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara in comments broadcast by state TV channel TRT.
“This attack will not give cause for Turkey to retreat in its determined stance in fighting terrorism,” he said, adding security forces were still investigating and it was too soon to name a suspected organisation.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
“The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. It is a woman,” a senior government official told Reuters.
Turkey has been hit by a series of suicide bombings this year, including two in its largest city Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two in the capital Ankara which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group. It has also faced attacks from far leftist groups, mostly on police and security forces.
The Bursa attack happened a day after the US warned American citizens in Turkey about credible terrorist threats to tourist areas.
Davutoglu said that tourists visiting Istanbul or Bursa do not face greater risks than those visiting Brussels, in reference to the Islamic State bombings that killed 35 people in March.
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