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An airport worker has died and another injured in an explosion at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport.

The blast took place where airplanes were parked, wounding two cleaning staff on a nearby plane.

Authorities later confirmed that one of those wounded - a female cleaner working on an empty plane at the time of the blast - had died, but are still probing what caused the blast.

After the explosion, police officers armed with rifles and protective vests arrived at the scene.

(Image: Rex) (Image: Rex)

Pegasus airline said the blast occurred just after midnight UK time.

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No passengers were in the area when the explosion took place.

(Image: Getty)

Of the cleaners, both women, one suffered a hand wound, and the other a head injury.

(Image: Rex)

A spokesman for the airport confirmed that operations were continuing as usual.

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Bomb attacks by Kurdish, leftist and Islamist militants are common in Turkey.

(Image: Wikipedia)

A three-decades-old conflict between the state and the militant Kurdistan Workers Party has flared up in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since the collapse of a ceasefire in July.

(Image: Ruptly/youtube)

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According to its website, the airport served around 26 million passengers in the first 11 months of the year, less than half the number at the main Ataturk airport on the European side of the city.