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Blast in Turkish resort kills three,
injures 20
28.8.2006
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ISTANBUL, August
28, 2006 ,-- An explosion ripped through Turkey's
major Mediterranean resort of Antalya Monday,
killing at least three people and wounding some 20
others as the blast shattered glass and ignited a
blaze on the seaside town's busiest street, reports
said.
The blast, which occurred a day dozens were injured
in a series of explosions in another seaside tourist
town and Turkey's main city Istanbul, struck
opposite a market near a municipal building, the
Anatolia news agency quoted local police spokesman
Akif Aktug as saying.
A number of wounded people were treated on the spot,
some of them bleeding heavily and with wounds to the
face, a tourist who witnessed the blast told AFP,
adding that emergency services arrived and put a
security cordon in place.
She said the explosion occurred around 3:40 pm (1340
GMT) in a cafe on the town's main avenue.
Three people were killed and 18 injured, according
to Turkey's NTV television. CNN-Turk television
reported 20 wounded. Israel's foreign ministry in
Jerusalem said four Israelis were lightly injured in
the blast.
Aktug said the cause of the explosion was not known.
Late Sunday another explosion ripped through a bus
in the southwestern resort of Marmaris, injuring 21
people, including 10 British tourists. Another
earlier bombing on Sunday injured six Turks in
Istanbul.
The Kurdish rebel group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK)
on Monday claimed responsibility for those blasts.
The group has claimed previous similar attacks that
have targeted tourist destinations.
In a statement on its website, Kurdish group said it
carried out the attacks on Marmaris and Istanbul in
revenge for the detention of Abdullah Ocalan, the
figurehead of the fight for Kurdish independence in
southeastern Turkey.
Ocalan has been in jail since 1999, serving a life
sentence for his activities as head of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an armed
struggle for self-rule since 1984. In this time the
Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than
37,000 lives.
The TAK, believed to be backed by the PKK, announced
in April that it would target tourist destinations
as a way of attacking a valuable source of revenue
for the country's government.
It claimed an attack in July 2005 which killed five
people including an Irish teenager and a British
woman in the western resort of Kusadasi.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France.
About half of all Kurds which estimate to 20 million
live in Turkey
Officially the Kurdish flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence
AFP
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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