Updated | 38 killed, scores injured after twin bombing outside Istanbul football stadium

Two bombs exploded less than a minute apart, killing 38 people and wounding 160 outside a football stadium in Istanbul on Saturday night, Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, has said.

The death toll from the two explosions jumped overnight to 38, making it one of the most devastating attacks in recent months in Turkey - a country still trying to recover from a series of deadly bombing this year in cities including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, some blamed on the Islamic State jihadist group and others claimed by Kurdish militants.

The two bombs, a car packed with 300kg of explosives and a suicide bomb in quick succession, struck at about 10.30pm in the Beşiktaş neighbourhood on Istanbul’s European side.

The attacks killed seven civilians and 31 police officers and wounded more than 150, and occurred two hours after fans had left the stadium, which hosted a match between Beskitas and Bursaspor.

“Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organisations ... and the forces behind them,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that early indications pointed to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a three-decade armed insurgency, mainly in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast. Ten people have been detained so far, he said.

“The arrows point at the PKK. It is clearly a planned event. There will be an announcement once the investigations are over. We cannot say anything definite for now,” he said.

He said Turkey's allies should show solidarity with it in the fight against terrorism, a reference to the long-standing disagreement with fellow NATO member Washington over Syria policy. The United States backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey says that the militia is an extension of the PKK and a terrorist group.

President Tayyip Erdoğan cancelled a planned trip to Kazakhstan, his office said. Erdoğan described the blasts as a terrorist attack on police and civilians. He said the aim of the bombings, two hours after the end of a match attended by thousands of people, had been to cause the maximum number of casualties.

“Nobody should doubt that with God’s will, we as a country and a nation will overcome terror, terrorist organisations ... and the forces behind them,” he said in a statement.

 “It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque,” said Omer Yilmaz, who works as a cleaner at the nearby Dolmabahce mosque, directly across the road from the stadium.

“People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Football fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible,” he said.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the first explosion, which came around two hours after the end of the match between Besiktas and Bursaspor, was at an assembly point for riot police officers. The second came as police surrounded the suicide bomber in the nearby Macka park.

Two of those killed in the blasts were civilians. The other 27 were police officers, including a police chief and another senior officer, Soylu said. He said 17 of the wounded were undergoing surgery and another six were in intensive care.

Bursaspor said none of its fans appeared to have been injured. Both it and Besiktas condemned the bombings.

"Those attacking our nation's unity and solidarity will never win," Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic said on Twitter. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan, also writing on Twitter, described it as a terrorist attack.

In June, about 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded when three suspected Isis militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.