The car bomb outside the stadium at Besiktas targeted a police bus. (Reuters Photo)
Twin bombings in the heart of Istanbul killed 15 people and wounded 169 on Saturday after a home match of Istanbul football giants Besiktas, the health ministry said.
The first attack is believed to be caused by a car bomb detonated outside the football stadium on the shores of the Bosphorus while a suicide attacker struck a nearby park.
The car bomb outside the stadium at Besiktas targeted a police bus, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said initially. Besiktas is also the name of the neighbourhood around club's arena.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the blasts shortly after the end of the match sought to cause the maximum loss of life.
"We have witnessed once more here in Istanbul the ugly face of terror which tramples down any form of value and morals," he said in a statement.
Erdogan was in Istanbul at the time of the blast at his residence in the suburb of Tarabya further down the Bosphorus, state media said.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said: "I curse the murderers strongly," he said, quoted by the CNN-Turk broadcaster.