Death toll in Istanbul bombings rises to 17

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The death toll in bomb blasts in Istanbul rose to 17 on Monday, Turkish broadcaster NTV said, and more than 150 people were wounded in an attack hours ahead of a court case over banning the governing party.

NTV said the toll reached 17 after one person died from wounds sustained in the Sunday evening blasts in a working class neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul. More than a dozen people were seriously injured in the two explosions.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his weekly cabinet meeting to travel to Turkey's largest city to visit the site of the blasts, a government official told Reuters.

The site was still cordoned off early on Monday and police were not allowing people into the area other than shop owners, as forensic teams examined the scene and police investigated security cameras in the largely residential area.

"We know the killers," Sabah newspaper said in a headline above a picture of bodies strewn across a busy pedestrian area where two bombs had torn through the crowds.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the deadliest in Turkey since 2003. Newspapers said three people had been detained in connection with the bombings.

Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamist militants have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.

Several newspapers said police were focusing their investigations this time on the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), saying it has used similar explosives.