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Turkey: Kurdish militants claim bomb
attack, six police officers were wounded
9.2.2006
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ISTANBUL
(Reuters) - A bomb blast at an Internet cafe in
Istanbul wounded at least 14 people, including six
police officers, on Thursday, and a hardline Kurdish
group claimed responsibility.
The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, which claimed to be
behind a series of bombings in Turkey in recent
years, carried out the blast in the Bayrampasa
district, not far from Istanbul airport, according
to a person who called the Kurdish Firat news
agency, claiming to speak on behalf of the group.
The group is believed to have links to Kurdish
rebels fighting security forces in southeast Turkey.
It was not immediately possible to verify the
authenticity of the report.
"It's a bomb explosion, there are 14 injured. One of
them is seriously injured," Istanbul police chief
Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the
scene.
Local police later told Reuters up to 16 people had
been wounded, including a child who was in a serious
condition.
Local people said the blast was very powerful.
"I heard a loud explosion and felt the ground move.
It was like an earthquake. I ran to the shop and
there was blood on the ground. One boy had lost a
leg," Murat Seymen, a machine worker, told Reuters.
He said he helped carry the boy to a car to be taken
to hospital. Another person lost an arm, he said.
The blast occurred some 100 meters from a local
headquarters for riot police. Locals said police
regularly used the Internet cafe.
A dozen police sealed off the side street, where the
cafe is located.
Militant groups including Kurdish separatists,
Islamists and ultra-leftists have carried out
attacks on civilian, security and military targets
in Turkey in the past.
Kurdish guerillas have been fighting for autonomy in
the southeast since 1984. The fighting, which has
claimed about 37,000 lives, tapered off after a
rebel truce in 1999. But violence has surged since
June 1, 2004, when the rebels declared an end to the
cease-fire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.
The Kurdistan Workers Party is considered a
terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States
and the European Union.
Reuters
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