Six individuals had been killed and dozens wounded when a bomb exploded on a well-liked pedestrian road in Istanbul on Sunday.

Footage posted on-line confirmed ambulances, fireplace engines and police on the scene on Istiklal Avenue, a sometimes crowded thoroughfare fashionable with vacationers and locals and lined with outlets and eating places.

In one video, a loud bang may very well be heard and flames may very well be seen, as pedestrians turned and ran away. Social media customers stated outlets had been shuttered and the avenue closed down.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan known as the blast a “treacherous attack” and stated its perpetrators could be punished.

In addition to the six fatalities, Mr Erdogan stated an extra 53 had been wounded, in keeping with data he had acquired from the Istanbul governor.

Turkey was hit by a string of lethal bombings between 2015 and 2017 by the so-called Islamic State group and outlawed Kurdish teams.

Five prosecutors had been assigned to analyze the blast, the state-run Anadolu information company reported.

Turkey’s media watchdog imposed non permanent restrictions on reporting on the explosion — a transfer that bans the usage of close-up movies and photographs of the blast and its aftermath.

The Supreme Council of Radio and Television has imposed related bans previously, following assaults and accidents.