Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Two explosions have rocked the Turkish city of Istanbul near a football stadium, killing at least 13 and wounding at least 20 people on Friday night.

The two blasts hit near the Besiktas Stadium just two hours after the end of a football match. Soon after, multiple gun shots were heard coming from the same location.

“Our sources tell us that the riot police van was targeted as it was exiting the Besiktas Stadium. We are seeing the entire neighborhoods surrounding the area on high alert with police and ambulance cars everywhere,” Al Arabiya’s sister news channel Al Hadath’s correspondent reported from Istanbul.

Most of Turkey's state television and media outlets were observing live coverage silence of the attack on Friday night.
Turkey’s radio and television board had issued a temporary coverage ban citing national security concerns. It said “to avoid broadcasts that can result in public fear, panic or chaos, or that will serve the aims of terrorist organizations.”

An eyewitness said that the stadium is close to famous tourist sites Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue that are frequented by Europeans and Arabs.

“There were nearly 500 people near Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue when the explosions detonated. A lot of the hotels near the stadium that are often frequented by Arab tourists were evacuated by security forces for fear of another attack during the night,” said Bashir Ayash, a Syrian journalist who was close to the scene of the attack.

Turkey has experienced a deadly year of attacks in its two biggest cities of Ankara and Istanbul that left dozens of people dead and placed the country on high alert.

“We are going to see a lot of the security apparatus in Turkey tightening and raising their alerts to the highest levels as we approach the end of the year. Turkey has seen so many deadly attacks hit its cities this year alone and tonight’s attack shows how tense the situation on the ground really is,” political analyst Islam Ozkan told Al Hadath.

*Al Arabiya