Istanbul blast suspect arrested as Turkey "rejects" US condolences

Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu blamed Kurdish militants on Monday for a blast that killed six people in Istanbul's main shopping street, and said police had detained 22 suspects (later updated to 46), including the person who had planted the bomb.

Soylu said the order for the attack on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue was given in Kobani, a city in northern Syria.

Istanbul has been targeted in the past by Kurdish, Islamist and leftist militants. An offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed twin bombings outside an Istanbul soccer stadium in December 2016 that killed 38 people and wounded 155. Ankara says the YPG, which Washington has supported in Syria, is a wing of the PKK.

The PKK has led an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in clashes. It is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Soylu also said on Monday that Turkey's alliance with the United States was in a "controversial situation" after the explosion. He added that Turkey "rejects" the condolences of the American embassy.