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Bomb blast kills 10 in Turkey's main
Kurdish city 13.9.2006
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, September 13, -- Ten people, among
them six children, were killed and 16 others injured
in a powerful bomb blast late Tuesday in Diyarbakir,
the largest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish
southeast, officials and hospital sources said.
The blast, the deadliest in a string of bombings
across Turkey this year, occurred at around 9 pm
(1900 GMT) near a bus stop at a crowded park in
Diyarbakir's impoverished Baglar district, in which
tea gardens are a favorite venue to relax in the
evenings.
The bomb blast was heard throughout the city,
shattering the windows of nearby buildings and
opening small cracks in several walls.
A statement by the local governor's office
identified the cause of the blast as a bomb and said
that seven people were killed.
A one-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries later,
bringing the death toll to eight, hospital sources
said.
Another person was in critical condition.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for
the attack.
Diyarbakir, a city of around one million people, is
a hotbed of Kurdish separatist militancy.
Covered bodies lay in the midst of pools of blood as
the police cordoned off the site and bomb experts
clad in white protective gear gathered evidence.
The CNN-Turk news channel said the bomb was
detonated by remote control, possibly a mobile
telephone.
"We heard that terrible bang and then we saw flames
rising as high as five meters from the ground," said
Hasan Ozcetinkaya, an employee of a gas station
across the street.
"I was resting at home when I heard the explosion. I
thought it was either an earthquake or I was losing
my mind," Mehmet Sanli, a 75-year-old resident of a
building next to the park, said. "I went out
barefooted and the street was littered with pieces
of glass."
The police launched an extensive security operation
after the blast, checking people entering and
exiting the city.
Southeast Turkey has been the theatre of a bloody
22-year Kurdish rebellion, led by the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has claimed
more than 37,000 lives.
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey,
the European Union and the United States, has
notably stepped up violence this year after it
called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June
2004.
At least 75 members of the security forces and 104
rebels have been killed in clashes and attacks since
the beginning of the year, according to an AFP
count.
Kurdish militants have also claimed responsibility
for 16 bomb attacks across Turkey, including tourist
resorts in the west, which killed a total of 12
people and left around 200 others injured.
Tuesday's attack is likely to put further strain on
the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, which has come under mounting criticism for
failing to stop bloodshed in the southeast.
The bomb exploded hours after the arrival in Ankara
of a special US envoy, retired general Joseph W.
Ralston, who will hold talks with Turkish officials
on Wednesday to discuss measures to curb the PKK.
Ankara has long urged Washington to crack down on
PKK bases in neighboring northern Iraq, where the
group has enjoyed safe haven for years.
On Monday, Turkey's
main Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party,
urged the PKK to call a ceasefire.
AFP
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
The Kurdish flag flown officially 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"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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