Türkiye accuses Kurdish group of Istanbul attack that killed six

Türkiye accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of carrying out a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul, saying a Syrian woman was in custody suspected of planting the device.

The bombing killed six people and wounded 81 others in the popular shopping street of Istiklal Avenue.

There has been no claim of responsibility.

A nine-year old girl and her father, as well as a 15-year-old girl and her mother were among those killed in the attack.

Istanbul police said that 46 people had been detained in total.

Erdogan's government accused the PKK of carrying out the explosion.

Images showing a young woman dressed in trousers and wearing a loose black scarf running away in the crowd, referred to as the bomber.

Police footage shared with Turkish media showed a young woman in a purple sweatshirt being apprehended in an Istanbul flat.

"The person who planted the bomb has been arrested," interior minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Turkish police said the chief suspect is a Syrian woman working for Kurdish militants.

"According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organisation is responsible," Soylu said.

The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara as its Western allies, has kept up a deadly insurgency for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Türkiye since the 1980s.

PKK-affiliated Kurdish militants control most of northeastern Syria.

"We believe that the order for the attack was given from Kobane," he said, referring to a city in Syria near the Turkish border.