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4 dead, 68 hurt in Turkey blast
03/01/2008 19:02 - (SA)
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| Four people have been killed and 68
injured in a blast that ripped through a military vehicle in Diyarbakir. (Ibrahim Yakut, Anatolia, AP)
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Ankara - A car bomb apparently targeting military personnel killed four people and wounded 68 others on Thursday in the Kurdish-dominated south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, officials said.
A bus transporting military personnel was passing by a five-star hotel when the bomb exploded, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
Four people were killed and 68 wounded, according to the governor's office in Diyarbakir.
Two of the dead were soldiers, the private Dogan news agency said.
Several people could be seen lying unconscious amid burning cars, and a bus was engulfed in flames, reports said.
Some students also were injured by flying glass, CNN-Turk television said.
Authorities blamed the blast on Kurdish rebels. Police captured two suspects who reportedly were escaping the scene, CNN-Turk television said, citing police sources.
The attack - which shattered the windows of surrounding buildings and could be heard 3 kilometers away - appeared to be a retaliation to three airstrikes by Turkish warplanes against Kurdish rebel shelters in northern Iraq last month.
There have been two explosions in Turkey's commercial centre, Istanbul, over the past two weeks, killing one and injuring nine.
Kurdish rebels
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler blamed Kurdish rebels.
Rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have battled for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades - a campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. The group uses strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes.
In October, Parliament authorised Turkey's military to strike back at rebels across the border.
Turkish warplanes took off from an air base in Diyarbakir just minutes after Thursday's attack, pro-Kurdish Firat news agency reported on its website. It was not clear if the jets were on a bombing mission.
Turkish military claimed it has killed up to 175 rebels in the first air assault alone on December 16, a figure denied by the PKK.
Firat reported that PKK leaders in Iraq earlier declared big cities in Turkey targets for rebels living in the country.
"Unfortunately, terrorism showed its bloody face once more in Diyarbakir," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"Such events will not disrupt our determination against terrorism. Our struggle both on international and national levels will continue with the same determination."
- AP
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