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Car bomb attack on Turkey ruling party wounds 48
[IsraelTimes] Officials blame PKK for blast outside of Justice and Development Party headquarters in Van, on first day of Eid
kaboom!Monday outside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters in the eastern Turkish city of Van, wounding 48 people including two coppers, local authorities said. Turkish officials blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies. The attack took place near a police checkpoint outside the AKP offices in the heart of the bustling city, the local governor’s office said in a statement. "Forty-six civilians and two coppers were maimed after a bomb-laden car... was blown up by members of the separatist terror organization," it added, using a term to describe Kurdish Lion of Islams. No group has yet grabbed credit for the bombing, which came on the first day of the Moslem holiday of Eid al-Adha. But Besir Atalay, an AKP politician from Van, pointed the finger of blame at the PKK. "The terrorist organization has targeted our party building and the AKP’s presence in the past. This is one of their attacks," he added, in live comments on the private NTV television. Witnesses said the force of the blast shattered the windows in the surrounding vicinity and the AKP’s provincial offices sustained severe damage. Several ambulances rushed to the scene and television images showed water cannon being used to put out a fire caused by the kaboom. Van, a city with a mixed Kurdish and Turkish population on the shores of the lake of the same name, has generally been spared the worst of attacks like those seen in the nearby city of Diyarbakir. The city is a popular tourist destination, particularly with Iranians who arrive from across the border in huge numbers to enjoy shopping and the relaxed atmosphere. The blast came a day after the government announced the removal of 28 mayors, mainly over alleged links to the PKK in a move strongly denounced by pro-Kurdish parties. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... defended the suspension of 28 mayors, saying it was a long-overdue. "You, as mayors and municipal councils, cannot stand up and support terrorist organizations," he told news hounds after prayers outside an Istanbul mosque, shortly before the attack. The government has also stepped up its military campaign in the restive southeast to eradicate PKK Lion of Islams, who have launched almost daily attacks since the rupture of a fragile ceasefire last year. In a message relayed by his brother, locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said the Kurdish conflict could end if the state was ready. "He said if the state is ready for the projects we can implement them in six months," Mehmet Ocalan told supporters in Diyarbakir, without offering further details. Mehmet Ocalan also said his brother was in "good health" amid concerns over the locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! leader’s welfare after months cut off from the outside world on the Imrali prison island near Istanbul. A group of 50 Kurdish activists including MPs announced on Monday they were ending their hunger strike on the eighth day, after receiving news on Ocalan’s health through his brother, a spokeswoman for the group said. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-09-13 |
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