The death toll from the İstanbul twin bombings outside a major soccer stadium in Istanbul has risen to 44 people, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ said Monday.
Turkey declared a national day of mourning and began to bury its dead Sunday after twin blasts.
The twin car-and-suicide bombings Saturday night near the Besiktaş stadium was the latest large-scale assault to traumatize a nation confronting an array of security threats.
The attack targeted police officers, killing 36 of them along with eight civilians.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed Turkey would fight "the curse of terrorism till the end" after paying a visit to some of the wounded at Haseki Hospital in İstanbul.
Surrounded by a crowd of people chanting his name and "God is greatest," Erdoğan vowed that the perpetrators would not get away and would be forced to "pay an even heavier price."
TAK CLAIMED İSTANBUL ATTACKS
A Kurdish militant group, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed on Sunday responsibility for twin attacks that ripped through the heart of Istanbul, killing 44 people.
The militant group said the twin attacks were carried out by two TAK militants, without providing any details about the perpetrators.
It said the attack was reprisal for state violence in the southeast and the ongoing imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK. TAK is considered as a PKK offshoot.
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 Maçka Park committed suicide by triggering explosives.
Authorities have determined that up to 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of explosives were used in the attack.
This year Istanbul has witnessed a spate of attacks attributed by authorities to the Islamic State group or claimed by Kurdish militants.
'WE CONDEMN THE DARK ATTACKS'
Communist Party, Turkey (KP) released a statement condemning the attacks. In the statement KP said "it is obvious that this attack is part of a political systematics. This systematics excludes people and the citizens from politics; reduces politics into the arm fights and "messaging" of specific powers with ambiguous principles and values."
Saturday's incident marked 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 of the southeast.
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 public service in the southeast, denies the charge.
