A Turkish national, Mehmet Ozturk, carried out the suicide bombing that killed four foreigners on a major shopping artery in Istanbul.

A Turkish national, Mehmet Ozturk, carried out the suicide bombing that killed four foreigners on a major shopping artery in Istanbul, Interior Minister Efken Ala said Sunday.

"The attacker has been formally identified. He is linked to the ISIL terrorist organization," Ala told a press conference, using the alternative name for the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group.

Ala said five people had been arrested on suspicion of links to Saturday's attack on Istiklal Caddesi, a bustling pedestrian street in the heart of the city.

Three Zionists and one Iranian were killed in the blast.

Born in 1992, Ozturk came from Gaziantep, a city in southeast Turkey on the border with Syria, the interior minister said.

He was "not on our list of wanted persons," Ala said, defending the authorities against accusations of security failings following six major attacks around the country since July that have killed over 200 people.

Meanwhile, the Zionist government on Sunday warned against travel to Turkey after three of its settlers were killed in an Istanbul suicide bombing.

The entity's so-called 'anti-terrorism office' raised its threat assessment and "recommends avoiding visits to Turkey," it said in a statement, noting recent attacks in the country.

Besides the three killed, another 10 Zionists were wounded, foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.

Five lightly wounded were flown home overnight, occupation medics said Sunday.

The remaining five with more serious injuries were on their way back home on Sunday afternoon, as were the bodies of those killed, Nahshon said.

The three Zionist killed were identified as Avraham Goldman, 69, Jonathan Shor, 40, and Simha Damari, 60.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had no evidence that the attack targeted Zionists.