Major explosions shake Istanbul

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Bomb attacks on the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul have left at least 15 dead and more than 300 injured.



One bomb exploded in a busy shopping area

The explosions come just days after 23 people died in suicide bombings on two synagogues in the city.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned what he described as an "appalling act of terrorism" saying it had all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda and associated organisations.

He said three or four consulate employees had not yet been accounted for.

A White House spokesman said Washington was monitoring the situation.


"It's total chaos... civilians are carrying people away from the scene" Chris Kitrinos, bystander near British consulate.


he 15-storey bank headquarters is located in a busy shopping area, which correspondents say would have been crowded when the explosion occurred at 1110 Turkish time.

The consulate bomb occurred two minutes later.

Extensive damage

Turkish Foreign Minister Abullah Gul was quoted as saying that Turkey would not bow to terror.



An AFP reporter on the scene said two annexes fronting the consulate had been destroyed.

"It's total chaos, ambulances cannot get to the scene," said an English teacher at a school next to the consulate, Chris Kitrinos.

"The damage is very extensive. I've been told that there are people lying around... Civilians are carrying people away from the scene."

The Istanbul stock exchange was suspended after the explosions and the lira dived on foreign exchange markets.

A group claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the synagogue attacks last Saturday.

It warned that the new attacks against the US and its allies were being planned.


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There were scenes of devastation in central Istanbul after a series of explosions left parts of the city resembling the aftermath of an earthquake.


Wrecked cars littered the street

Television footage showed the wrecked facade of the headquarters of the British HSBC bank, water gushing from a burst mains onto mangled cars and debris littering the street below.

Outside the UK consulate nearby, confused people staggered over rubble and twisted metal as smoke and dust blotted out the sunlight.

"People are out on the street, holding their head in their hands, crying, trying to phone relatives," a journalist from the French news agency AFP reported from the scene.

All the windows in the 15-storey HSBC building in the heart of the city's commercial district had been blown out by the blast, sending shards of glass crashing to the ground.

Pools of blood were visible in the street, which had been packed with shoppers at the time of the blast.

Eyewitness Chris Kitrinos, an English teacher, said: "The damage is very extensive. I've been told that there are people lying around and I'm looking at people lying on the ground.

"Civilians are carrying people away from the scene... There is debris and bodies around."

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Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has condemned an explosion which has hit the British consulate in Istanbul as an "appalling act of terrorism".


Blasts would be "major" talking point for Mr Blair and Mr Bush

The HSBC bank headquarters was also hit in a series of explosions which killed at least 15 people.

Mr Straw said the blasts bore "all the hallmarks" of Al-Qaeda.

Mr Straw said three or four consulate staff had not reported to a roll call after the blasts.



Collapsed

Istanbul was hit by a number of explosions on Thursday morning, just days after 23 people died in two synagogue suicide bombings.

Another blast is said to have wrecked part of the 15-storey headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank.



There was a series of explosions in the Turkish city

At least 15 people are reported to have been killed in the attacks and up to 100 injured.

Mr Straw said the British Ambassor to Turkey, Peter Westmacott, was en route from Ankara to Istanbul on a Turkish ministerial plane.

One news agency reported that around 50 consulate employees had gathered in the garden at the back of the building after the blast.

A correspondent from news agency AFP said part of a building next to the consulate's front gate had collapsed.

'Concerned'

English teacher Chris Kitrinos, who works in the school next door to the consulate, told CNN he had been concerned for some time that cars could drive past the consulate.

"And now of course it's happened," he said.

British Airways, which operates twice-daily return services between London and Istanbul, said it was "closely monitoring" the situation.

The foreign secretary will make a further statement on the attacks in the House of Commons at 1230 GMT.