Saturday morning, a suicide bomber blew himself up on Istiklal, Istanbul’s main pedestrian avenue. An Israeli group on a culinary tour of the city took the main force of the explosion, in what appears to be a random act directed at tourists, and not specifically at them as Israelis. Three Israeli citizens were killed and eleven injured, in addition to an Iranian who succumbed to fatal injuries; a Turkish family, including a two year old toddler and her father, were hospitalized in serious condition.

This is the fourth bomb to go off in Turkey in the last two months which cumulatively have killed over 80 people. Two bombs have hit tourists in Istanbul, with those attacks believed linked to ISIS sympathizers, and the two recent Ankara bombings directed at Turkish citizens were claimed by TAK, a militant Kurdish organization, an offshoot of the outlawed PKK, whose most recent bombing happened just a week ago killing 37 people. Last October, an ISIS sympathizer killed over a hundred people at a leftist pro-peace rally in Ankara as well.

Saturday’s bombing sadly did not come as a surprise: The American and German embassies had issued warnings, with many Turkish citizens themselves avoiding Istiklal for fear of an imminent attack.

To read the article in full go to Haaretz.