President Gul visits scenes of Sunday's double bombing in Istanbul

President Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa yesterday visited the site of Sunday's terrorist attacks in Istanbul 's Gungoren district and offered their condolences to the residents of the neighborhood. During the visit, Gul again condemned the attacks, saying, "Everyone who comes here sees that those who carried out these terror attacks, those who were behind them, those who masterminded them, and those who instigated them have done something terribly inhuman." He added, "All of the victims of these attacks were innocent. They (the culprits) intentionally targeted innocents without discriminating between men and women, the elderly and children. When they see pictures of the children they killed in newspapers, they cannot claim responsibility for the attacks due to their shame." He also said, "Unfortunately, in today's world the richest and the poorest countries alike have to live with terror. The security forces of all countries are fighting terrorism. Heads of state and government from around the world have sent us messages offering their condolences. They condemned these terror attacks which claimed the lives of innocents and gave their full support to our fight against terrorism." He added that the people responsible for the attacks would be brought to justice. People living in the Gungoren neighborhood welcomed Gul and his wife with Turkish flags hung from their windows. Gul pledged that the damage caused by the attacks would be compensated for as soon as possible. Tight security measures were taken for the visit. In related news, police yesterday detained nine people over possible connections with the terrorists who planted the bombs.