Three cleaners on board the Turkish Airlines plane were injured in the blast, which happened after the passengers had left, police said.

The plane had just arrived on an internal flight from Izmir on the Aegean coast.

Security in Istanbul had been stepped up for a summit of Nato leaders, which ended on Tuesday.

Tensions are high in Turkey after a series of incidents over the past week.

On Thursday last week, four people were killed and several injured in bomb attacks in Istanbul and the Turkish capital city, Ankara.

On Friday, a car containing explosives was found by police in a car park at the airport.

The same day, Israeli airline El Al suspended all its flights to Turkey in a row over security in Istanbul.

On Monday, a small bomb exploded outside the defence ministry in Ankara.

A Turkish Airlines spokesman said the explosion on board the plane was caused by a booby-trapped parcel resembling a wallet.

The spokesman said one cleaner lost a finger in the blast when he tried to open the package, while two other cleaners suffered minor injuries.

Police cordoned off the aircraft after the incident and firefighters were called to the scene.