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At least 15 people were killed and more than 150 injured when two bombs ripped through a popular shopping centre in the Turkish city of Istanbul last night.

The blasts came hours ahead of the start of a court case over the banning of the governing party that has plunged Turkey into political turmoil.

Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici said: “First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container exploded. We know it is a terrorist attack, but which organisation is responsible – we don’t yet have that information.”

Istanbul’s governor, Muammer Guler, said: “The fact that there was a crowd in the area has increased the number of casualties.”

Eye witnesses said the two explosions were around 10 minutes apart and that many of the people injured in the second explosion were those who had rushed to help those caught up in the first blast. “The first explosion was not very strong,” said Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop in the area. “Several people came to see what was going on. That’s when the second explosion occurred, and it injured many onlookers.”

The second explosion could be heard a mile away, according to witnesses who arrived on the scene shortly after the blasts. Nurettin Kapucu, a doctor at a nearby hospital, said some 25 people were being treated there.

Police sealed off the two sections of the square and bomb squad officers were examining the scene yesterday evening as a police investigation began.

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