Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has extended his condolences to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian First Vice President Ishaq Jahangir over a terrorist attack in İstanbul on Saturday which led to the killing of three Israelis and one Iranian, sources at the Turkish Prime Ministry have said.
The attack took place in the morning hours of Saturday in the busy İstiklal Street of İstanbul’s central Taksim neighborhood.
The victims of the attack, in which four people as well as the suicide bomber were killed, were identified by Turkish officials as Israeli nationals Simha Simon Demri, Yonathan Suher and Avraham Godman and Iranian national Ali Rıza Khalman.
Thirty six people including foreign nationals have also been injured the attack, which, according to preliminary investigations, has been perpetrated by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant.
In the meantime, US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price released a statement later on Saturday saying that two American citizens were among those killed in the “heinous attack” in İstanbul as it turned out that two of the three Israelis killed in the attack also held US citizenship.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” the statement said.