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TUNCELI, Turkey, May 1 (Reuters) - A Kurdish
separatist group on Sunday claimed responsibility
for a bomb attack in a western Turkish resort town
that killed a police officer, a news agency known to
have close links with the group reported.
A spokesman for the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK),
a group known to carry out urban attacks for the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was quoted
as telling the Europe-based Mezopotamya News Agency
that the TAK was behind the bomb blast in Kusadasi
on Saturday.
Four policemen were wounded in the explosion that
occurred when they investigated a suspicious package
next to a statue of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk in the town centre.
Police were setting up a security cordon after a
report of the package in front of the statue when
the explosion happened.
The spokesman also said the group was behind two
incidents last week in Istanbul where police defused
bombs placed under a bridge and at a municipal bus
park.
The spokesman said the organisation was planning
urban attacks and warned the "Western tourists to
stay away from Turkey".
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in
1984 and more than 30,000 people have died in the
conflict, but violence subsided after the 1999
capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Reuters
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