The Scotsman, The British Consulate and the offices of a British bank have been targeted in a wave of bombings across Istanbul that has killed at least 25 people and injured more than 400.
Ten people are reported to have been killed in a suicide bombing which ripped off the wall surrounding the garden of the consulate in the Beyoglu district.
Turkish TV pictures showed a scene of devastation outside the consulate building. The gatehouses flanking the entrance to the walled compound were completely demolished by the massive blast, while the consulate building appeared to have been less severely damaged.
An eyewitness told local television that a brown van had rammed the entrance of the consulate and then exploded.
At least three people have died in another attack on the Istanbul headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank that left mutilated bodies strewn across the road.
TV pictures showed firefighters working to put out a fire inside the 12-storey building, which was charred and black from the explosion. Twisted pieces of cars and broken glass lay across the street outside the building.
“The windows just exploded, everything exploded. I think there must be dead but I don't know the number,” said one banker who worked in the HSBC building.
Chris Kitrinos, an English teacher interviewed at a school next door to the consulate, told CNN: “It's total chaos, ambulances can't get to the scene.”
“The damage is very extensive
