An outlawed Turkish Marxist group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), said on Wednesday that it was behind a suicide bombing in the heart of Istanbul that killed a police officer.

The woman reportedly spoke English when attempting to enter a police building in Istanbul’s tourist-heavy Sultanahmet district. Her nationality and identity were not immediately established, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told reporters.

According to the Hurriyet Daily, the niqab-clad woman said that she had left her wallet in the building as a pretext for getting inside.

The attacker "exploded herself prematurely before going into the police building, as she was prevented by the guards at the entrance," according to Cihan news agency.