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Istanbul police seize explosives, bomb
explosion in Diyarbakir
8.4.2006
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ISTANBUL, April
7, 2006, - Istanbul police Friday rounded up
11 suspected Kurdish militants and seized nearly
eight kilograms (17.5 pounds) of explosives believed
to have been destined for bomb attacks in Istanbul,
the Anatolia news agency reported.
Two bomb attacks claimed by a radical Kurdish group
hit Istanbul over the past week, killing one and
injuring several others, as deadly Kurdish riots
flared in the southeast.
Acting on intelligence that more violence is being
planned, police raided a house in the distant
Istanbul suburb of Kucukcekmece, detaining two
suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) and seizing 3.8 kilos (8.4 lbs) of
plastic explosives, officials told Anatolia.
Nine other suspects were detained in separate raids
in the city, which the seizure of a further four
kilos (8.8 lbs) of explosives.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), believed to be
a cover for the PKK's urban attacks, on Wednesday
claimed responsibility for an explosion that wounded
three at an office here of the ruling Justice and
Development Party.
On March 31, the group took the blame for a bomb
blast that killed one and wounded 13 at a bus
station in the city.
TAK has threatened to carry out more attacks as a
reprisal for the killing of 12 people during a week
of Kurdish riots in the southeast.
The unrest, which erupted on March 28, spilled over
to Istanbul, where three women were crushed to death
when a firebomb hurled by Kurdish protestors set a
city bus ablaze and sent it crashing into another
vehicle.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than
37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK, considered a
terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and
the United States, took up arms for Kurdish
self-rule in the southeast.
Meanwhile Three people were injured in a suspected
bomb explosion Friday in the mainly Kurdish
southeastern city of Diyarbakir (Kurdistan-Turkey),
security sources said.
The blast occurred on a main road near the city
centre used by buses carrying employees of the local
police force to and from work, the sources said.
A passer-by and the driver and a passenger of a
municipal vehicle, which was damaged by the blast,
were injured.
There were no police buses in the vicinity at the
time of the explosion.
The exact cause of the blast was not immediately
clear but police were investigating whether it was
caused by a bomb, the sources said.
The blast followed a wave of Kurdish riots last week
that began here and spilled over to other regions,
claiming 15 lives in all.
Two bomb attacks claimed by a radical Kurdish group
in reprisal for the police response to the riots hit
Istanbul over the past week, killing one and
injuring several others.
AFP
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