German institutions in Turkey closed for security reasons

 

German diplomatic missions and a school in Turkey were closed Thursday for security reasons, the German consulate in Istanbul said, less than a week after a suicide car bomb attack in the capital.

 

The measure concerns the German embassy in Ankara as well as the consulate and German school in Istanbul, it said on its website.

 

Sunday’s suicide bombing, which killed 35 people, was claimed Thursday by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical Kurdish group with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

 

Last January, 12 German tourists were killed in a suicide attack blamed on the ISIS group in the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district.

 

Turkey has suffered five major bombings since July last year, killing more than 200 people, including two in Ankara in less than a month.