Car bomb in Turkey blamed on Kurds
ISTANBUL, Turkey — A car bomb in a bustling street killed three people and injured 24 others Friday in eastern Turkey, sparking fears of renewed separatist fighting in the country’s mainly Kurdish area. The government quickly vowed to keep up its fight against the rebels.
The apparent target of the attack, Hikmet Tan, the governor of the city of Van, was not injured when the remote-controlled bomb exploded in a busy shopping area. He accused autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels, who last month ended a unilateral cease-fire, of carrying out the attack.
The rebels, however, denied any involvement. Militant leftists and Islamic groups also are active in Turkey.
The casualties were all bystanders, including a 12-year-old peddling bubble gum on the street, Tan said.
“Turkey will never tolerate terrorism,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. It “will always fight terrorism,” he said.
The car used in the blast was reduced to a charred, smoldering chunk of metal. Blood was seen on the street and windows of a nearby building were shattered. The blast broke a pipe on the street, which was flooded by water.
The windows of the governor’s luxury car were shattered and holes could be seen in its side.
Tan said a suspect was detained and police also said they found another bomb in the area and defused it.
The attack was the latest in the surging violence in Turkey’s overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast since the rebels announced June 1 that they were giving up a five-year unilateral cease-fire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.
The blast also came amid Turkish requests that the United States crack down on Kurdish rebels based across the border in northern Iraq. Turkish leaders emphasized the issue when President Bush visited Turkey last weekend.
Some 37,000 people were killed before the rebels suspended hostilities in 1999 following the capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and Friday’s attack renewed fears of new hostilities in the region.
“These are efforts to again create fear and terror,” said Tan, who blamed the attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, now known as KONGRA-GEL. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
“This is a terrorist attack not against me, but against the people of Van,” he said, adding that the victims were Kurds.
The rebels, however, denied involvement in the bombings, saying they condemn “every action that would cost the lives and assets of civilians,” according to a statement made to the Germany-based Mesopotamia news agency, which often reports rebel group statements.
There have been recent reports of splits within the group’s leadership between factions favoring a return to violence and those advocating a political struggle.