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ANKARA, July 16 (AFP) - 15h05 - A group of
leading Kurdish activists on Saturday condemned a
bomb attack on a minibus in a popular seaside resort
in western Turkey, which killed at least four
people.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for
the explosion, which authorities believe may have
been caused either by a suicide bomber or a parcel
bomb.
The incident followed a bomb attack in nearby Cesme
last week, which a Kurdish rebel group claimed,
threatening more attacks on tourist targets in the
country.
"We never approve of and we condemn any action
against innocent and defenseless civilians, whatever
its purpose and reason may be and whoever its
perpetrators may be," a joint statement by 14
prominent Kurdish politicians and activists said.
Among them were Leyla Zana, winner of the European
parliament's Sakharov award for human rights, and
Tuncer Bakirhan, the chairman of Turkey's main
pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party.
Clashes between the army and the rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), blacklisted as a terrorist
group by the European Union and the United States,
have markedly intensified over the past three
months, after the PKK called off a five-year
unilateral ceasefire last year.
The attack in Cesme last week and a bomb explosion
in Kusadasi in April, in which a policeman was
killed, were both claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom
Falcons, a group which Turkish authorities associate
with the PKK.
AFP
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