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ANKARA, July 22 (AFP) - 13h27 - The Turkish
police believe that a deadly bomb blast in a seaside
resort at the weekend was the work of the rebel
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) even though the
group, considered a terrorist organization by
Ankara, has denied involvement, a senior police
official said Friday.
"The evidence obtained and all our experience point
at the PKK," Ismail Caliskan, the security
department spokesman, told AFP. "We have no doubts."
Five people, among them a young British woman and an
Irish teenager, were killed and 13 others injured
last Saturday when a bomb explosion tore apart a
minibus in the Aegean resort of Kusadasi, popular
mainly with British tourists.
The blast came only a week after some 20 people were
injured in a bomb explosion in the nearby resort of
Cesme, which a little known group, the Kurdistan
Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed, threatening more
attacks on touristic targets.
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group also by
the United States and the European Union, denied any
involvement in the Kusadasi blast, while TAK made no
statement.
"The PKK does not claim such attacks (on civilians)
because it does not want to draw reactions from the
West," Caliskan said.
The Turkish police consider the PKK and TAK the same
thing, he explained.
The probe in Kusadasi is continuing, he said, adding
that no one has been detained so far.
TAK first emerged last August, weeks after the PKK
called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire with
Ankara, claiming responsibility for the bombing of
two Istanbul hotels, in which two people died.
The group took the blame for another explosion in
Kusadasi in April which killed a policeman, and most
recently the Cesme blast.
Kurdish rebels have in the past targeted tourist
areas in a bid to intimidate foreigners and
undermine the lifeline that Turkey's flourishing
tourism industry provides for the fragile economy.
The PKK has stepped up attacks against the Turkish
army in the predominantly Kurdish southeast over the
past few months, prompting Ankara to consider
stricter measures against the group.
AFP
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