|
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 7 (Reuters) - A Turkish
freight train derailed in eastern Turkey on Thursday
when a mine was detonated on the tracks, but no one
was hurt, officials said.
Security sources said the separatist Kurdistan
Worker's Party (PKK) was behind the attack -- the
second on a train in the region in under a week --
but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The blast occurred as the train, carrying mainly
construction material, was travelling between the
eastern cities of Erzurum and Erzincan.
Erzurum governor Celalettin Guvenc said the mine was
set off by remote control and no one was hurt in the
incident.
"One carriage was overturned. Six carriages are
lying on their side," Guvenc said.
Bomb experts were investigating a suspicious package
found beneath a railway bridge near the site of the
explosion, and security forces have launched an
operation in the region, the state-run Anatolian
news agency said.
A group serving as the PKK's armed wing, the
People's Defence Force (HPG), claimed responsibility
for the first attack in nearby Bingol province on
Saturday, when a bomb ripped through a postal train
and killed six security guards.
The PKK launched an armed rebellion in 1984 against
the Turkish state, and more than 30,000 people,
mainly Kurds, have been killed in the ensuing
conflict.
Fighting dropped off sharply with the 1999 capture
of PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan, but there has been
a spike in violence since the PKK called off a
unilateral truce last year.
The Turkish military has said a large number of PKK
rebels have crossed the border into Turkey from
northern Iraq in the last few months armed with
explosives used in homemade mines.
Several soldiers and other security forces have been
killed in recent weeks in blasts by the
remote-controlled mines.
Reuters
Top |
® 