Bomb blast wounds 14 people in Turkey

A bomb exploded at an Internet cafe near a police station in Istanbul on Thursday.

A bomb exploded at an Internet cafe near a police station in Istanbul on Thursday, wounding 14 people, the city's police chief said.

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Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah said six police officers and two civilians, including a child, were wounded when the bomb went off inside the cafe.

Six other passers-by, all civilians, were injured in the street, he said.

Cerrah said the injured child was in serious condition. Coskun Kilic, who helped evacuate some of the injured, said a police officer was also badly injured.

"I carried seven or more injured," Kilic told at the scene. "Their hair were burnt and two of them, a child and an officer were unconscious and badly injured."

"The strength of the blast had sent the chairs into the street and there was smoke all over inside, you could barely see them," Kilic said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the city's Bayrampasa district.

The Internet cafe was frequented by police officers from the nearby local headquarters of Istanbul's riot police.

Police cordoned off the area, and ambulances rushed the injured to hospitals.