Terror attacks hit Turkey as economy contracts
Turkey was shaken by terror attacks which killed 38 people and injured 160. The Turkish-based Kurdish militant group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) has claimed responsibility for the explosions. In response, Turkey's President Erdogan warned that the country should be prepared for more violence and it will have to "keep spilling more" blood to fight terrorist groups. Terror attacks such as these and the recent failed coup have exacerbated Turkey's failing economy, which is battered by rising inflation, falling tourist revenues and a dip in exports and household spending. The country's GDP fell 1.8% in Q3 2016 marking its worst contraction since the global financial crisis.
A set of explosions outside a major sports stadium in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded more than 160 others, officials said, in an attack that appeared to target police officers Saturday evening.

Of the 38 dead, 30 were police officers who had been near the site of the blast at the Besiktas stadium, Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told Turkish media.

"We think a vehicular bomb was set off with a handheld device in the area where our special forces were congregated," he told Hurriyet, a privately owned publication. "A couple of minutes later a suspect was identified in Macka by our security forces. They were surrounded by our police. But they set off their bomb shortly after the vehicle bomb went off."

Several gunshots could be heard after the blasts in videos that were posted on social media shortly after the suspected terror attack.

The explosions occurred near the Besiktas stadium, which had been hosting a soccer match.

A total of 166 people were wounded, Soylu said, including 23 who were in intensive care or undergoing surgery at nearby hospitals.