Blast hits Istanbul

At least 15 people have been injured in an attack carried out by a suspected suicide bomber in the Turkish city of Istanbul, media reports say.

There were also unconfirmed reports of at least two people being killed in the incident on Sunday.

The alleged bomber is said to have blown himself up close to where the police were stationed in Taksim Square in the heart of the city's shopping district.

"One side of the square, usually a series of police buses are parked, on guard for any kind of civil disorder. The target of this explosion appears to have been one of two buses," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from the scene, said.

"Eyewitnesses I've spoken to said they saw at least two bodies being carried away, so at least two people may have been killed."

She said some buildings around the square had been damaged in the blast.

It was not immediately clear whether the injured were police or civilians.

Police suspected a suicide bomber was responsible, Turkish NTV reported.

Following the blast, a security cordon was thrown round the area and the nearby Istiklal street was closed off for pedestrians.

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