A suicide bombing attack on an Istanbul freemasons' building yesterday was a botched job, Turkish media reported this morning.
A suicide bomber did kill himself and another man, but his accomplice failed to kill himself in yesterday's attack, which wounded also five people.
"We don't think it is likely this attack was the work of al-Qaeda or Hizbullah," Hurriyetdaily quoted an unnamed senior security source as saying. "It could have been carried out by inexperienced militants of a newly formed radical religious group. . . . If the bomb had been better made, the whole building could have blown up."
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told reporters two men had entered a restaurant on the ground floor of the three-storey building after firing at the windows and shooting a security guard in the foot.
"(One of the men) detonated the bomb he had on him," killing himself and a waiter, Mr Guler said. The second attacker lost an arm in the blast and was taken to hospital "with his intestines hanging out."
About 40 people had been eating at the restaurant at the time of the attack, but apart from broken windows the building suffered little damage. Mr Guler said the explosion occurred near the entrance and the wounded were all seated nearby.
No group has so far claimed responsibility.