ISTANBUL, the grand old city straddling Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait, has been plunged into mourning again after being hit by the fourth bombing there so far this year.

Eleven people died in the latest blast, which cut through the heart of the city yesterday leaving its streets bloodied and littered with broken glass and twisted metal.

Yet even as the nation looked to bury its dead and tend to the 36 wounded, shock was quickly replaced by anger as pressure builds on a government challenged with doing more to protect its citizens than turning out frothing, angry rhetoric.

While its leaders were photographed moving amid burned out cars and visiting the injured in their hospital beds, across Turkey the anger among citizens is coming to the boil.

Turks have grown increasingly fearful and frustrated at the everyday danger it poses to not just them but also visitors, with the number of tourists choosing to visit the country falling off a cliff.

And as the economy suffers, the recent spate of attacks involving Kurdish opposition fighters and Daesh terrorists from Syria is beginning to bite on the political front too.

It’s all being played against out the country’s burning desire to be the good international soldier and win a seat at Europe’s table, deploying brinkmanship on everything from refugees to Syria.

Yet while the political posturing and military manoeuvring goes on, the body count grows.

In January this year, 12 German tourists were killed in a suspected Daesh suicide bombing in Istanbul.

Just a month later, a military convoy in Ankara was attacked and 28 people killed.

Then in March, Kurdish militants killed 35 people in Ankara and four in Istanbul during a suicide attack.

Last month, two police officers were killed in a suspected Daesh bombing at a Gaziantep police station.

The toll from the latest bombing could still rise.

HOW BAD WAS THE LATEST VIOLENCE?

GOVERNOR Vasip Sahin said the dead included seven police officers and four civilians.

At least three of the wounded remained in a serious condition.

Officials said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed inside a car and was detonated as the police vehicle was passing in the district of Beyazit group by the government.

The conflict with the PKK, which began in 1984, is thought to have cost as many as 35,000 to 40,00 lives.

The PKK says it is fighting for autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds in the southeast of the country.

Military chiefs estimate some 500 or so Turkish security personnel have been killed in attacks and engagements with the militants in the past year alone.

It also claims to have killed 4,900 PKK rebels, including through the use of warplanes raiding PKK positions in Northern Iraq.

The violence has swelled recently after the collapse of a two-year peace deal and talks last July.

A signature of the PKK is to target passing police and military vehicles with remote controlled car bombs, as with Tuesday’s attack.

Not only are the PKK reacting to Turkey having security forces operating in Kurdish areas to the south-east of the country, the Syrian civil war just over the border has added to the tinderbox pressure.

Turkey is part of the coalition fighting against Daesh, allowing bombers and fighter jets to use its airspace and base at Incirlik to launch assaults.

The PKK also blames Turkey for not doing enough to thwart Daesh activity in Kurdish regions.

However Turkey, because of its border with Syria and support of the US-led coalition there, is also a target of Daesh itself.

The situation is, to say the least, complicated.

ARE PEOPLE WORRIED?

THE frequency and scale of the attacks has led to a direct fall in tourism for Turkey, which relies on the industry for much of its economic stability.

According to the latest official figures, 1.75 million people still visited the country. But that was significantly down - as much as 28 per cent - on April 2015.

Local hoteliers report poor trading this year. After the latest blast, some lamented customers already checking out, perhaps never to return.

Some of Turkey’s closest allies, while warning of vigilance in the area, have always been quick to condemn the violence and offers support.

The UK Government’s travel advice warns that attacks could “affect places visited by foreigners”.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said his thoughts were with the victims. “The UK utterly condemns this senseless and appalling act of violence.”

John Bass, the US ambassador to Turkey, called the bombing “heinous” and said the US stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Turkey.

He added: “Deeply saddened by the barbarous terror attack in Istanbul,” he said in a statement. “Such senseless violence could never be rationalised by any cause.”

In a statement, the European Union said it wanted to “reiterate our continuing solidarity to Turkey and its people and reaffirm our commitment to work closely together to fight the global threat of terrorism.”

Turkey’s own Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned the attack, which occurred on the second day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

The authorities have imposed a news blackout preventing the media from fully or freely reporting any of the details of the investigation.

But the world is still watching.