Istanbul Soccer Match Canceled Following Potential Threat

A soccer game between two major Istanbul teams was postponed Sunday by Turkish officials, who cited a potential but unspecified threat. The Istanbul governor’s office confirmed the match was canceled after the “assessment of serious intelligence.”

The match between the two teams, the Galatasaray Football Club and Fenerbahçe Football Club, was originally scheduled to start 8:00 p.m. local time, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Reports indicated initial plans by the Turkish Football Federation called for the match to continue without fans in attendance, prior to its cancellation.

The decision to postpone the match comes a day after a suicide bomber killed at least four people in the city’s pedestrian shopping disrict, Istiklal Avenue. Three Israelis, two with Israeli-U.S. nationality, and an Iranian died while an additional 36 were wounded. The attacker, Mehmet Ozturk, was linked with the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, Turkey’s Interior Minister Efkan Ala said Sunday, according to CNN.

In response to the attacks, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that the country would “never surrender to the agenda of terror,” according to Reuters. The bombing is the latest in the slew of attacks Turkey has suffered in the past year, including a car bomb on in the capital city of Ankara on March 13.