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ANKARA, Aug 15 (AFP) - 11h45 - A powerful time
bomb ripped through a government building in Sirnak
province in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast early
Monday, causing extensive material damage, but no
casualties, media reports said.
The bomb exploded in the basement of the building in
Beytussebap town, which houses the offices of the
sub-governor and other senior officials, at 1:00 am
(2200 GMT), the NTV and CNN Turk news channels said.
The blast blew out the windows of the building as
well as those of several residential buildings
nearby, the reports said.
Local officials were not immediately available for
comment.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the
blast, but the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
which has stepped up anti-government violence in the
past several months, has long been active in the
area.
Violence has escalated in Turkey's southeast since
the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the
United States and the European Union, ended its
five-year ceasefire in June 2004 on the grounds that
Ankara's concessions to Kurds were insufficient.
The group has been blamed for several deadly bomb
blasts in popular tourist resorts and the country's
biggest city Istanbul over the past month.
About 37,000 people died between 1984 and 1999 as
the PKK engaged in a violent armed campaign for
Kurdish autonomy in the southeast.
AFP
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