Four people wounded in bomb explosion in Turkey’s Istanbul

At least four people have sustained injuries in a bomb explosion in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Monday that the bomb blast occurred in the district of Maltepe overnight.

The report said the injured were hurt by metal pieces from a device planted under an overpass on a highway. It is unclear who planted the explosives.

Security sources said the injured were two passengers in a car driving under the overpass and two pedestrians waiting for a taxi, adding that police has launched an investigation into the incident.

Tourism slump

Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in late March that the number of foreign visitors to the country had plunged by over 10 percent in the previous month, as the country struggles to shield its once booming tourism industry against increasing security threats.

The monthly statistics indicated that the number of tourists from Russia recorded one of the biggest falls amid increasing tensions between the two countries after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border in November 2015. The report said the number of Russian visitors to Turkey had plunged over 51.5 percent the previous month.

Ankara’s intensified crackdown on Kurdish militants and Kurdish retaliatory attacks on security personnel and civilians over the past months have created major security setbacks for the country. Attacks have also been carried out by Daesh, a terror group based in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

The figures in the latest tourism report were compiled before recent bombings in Ankara and Istanbul in March, which left a total of 42 people killed.

Turkey says tourism brought in almost USD 31.5 billion in revenues in 2015. The government has launched a series of initiatives to limit the losses inflicted on the industry.

Party prevented from holding congress

On Sunday, Turkish police cordoned off a hotel in the capital, Ankara, preventing dissidents in the country’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from holding a congress.

Several hundred members of the MHP have launched a campaign to unseat Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the party in the last 19 years, and to recover ground lost to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). To do so they need to change party rules during a special congress.

Police blocked the road leading to the hotel with barricades and water cannon as people gathered near the area and shouted “Bahceli, resign!”

Replacing Bahceli may boost support for the MHP at the expense of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, and could jeopardize his ambitions of winning a big enough majority in the next polls to allow him to change the constitution to reinforce his powers even further.

MHP dissident leaders later issued a statement charging the government with struggling to block the congress.

“The government has seen our enthusiasm and they are trying to prevent us from holding this congress because people (voters) are searching for a safe haven. That safe haven is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP),” said Ibrahim Dizdar, a high-profile MHP figure who was suspended by Bahceli.

Turkey’s appeal court said it will rule within a month on whether MHP dissidents can hold the congress, while two lower courts have issued conflicting decisions.

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