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| Europe |
| Turkish blasts injure 22 |
| 2006-08-27 |
| FOUR separate blasts on Turkey's popular coastal region and in the country's commercial capital Istanbul injured at least 22 people, state news agency Anatolian reported today. Anatolian said three blasts occurred around the southern coastal area of Marmaris early today and another in Istanbul's Bagcilar district late yesterday. The British Foreign office said 10 British tourists were among the wounded in Marmaris, four of them seriously. "There have been three explosions in the resort of Marmaris, Turkey and 10 British nationals have been injured and are in hospital. We have consular staff on the ground," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. "We have no further details in terms on the cause of the explosions or the location," she said. Marmaris is a coastal resort popular with west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks. Anatolian quoted Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah as saying six people had been injured in the explosion in Bagcilar. Turkey's NTV television network said one person in the Marmaris blasts was seriously injured. There were no immediate claims of responsibility and authorities were not immediately available for comment. Television pictures showed ambulances and police cars at the scene of the explosions. Kurdish separatists, leftists and Islamic militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past. The tourist industry is a powerful motor of the Turkish economy. The explosions come two days after two bombs exploded in the southern Turkish city of Adana, injuring four people. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which launched a separatist campaign in 1984, and other militant groups have been blamed or claimed responsibility for similar blasts in the past. Turkey, like the United States and European Union, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation and blames it for the deaths of more than 30,000 people. Ankara has recently increased its troop presence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where security forces are battling PKK guerrillas. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Marmaris is a coastal resort popular with west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks. Pro-Chechnya elements going after the Ruskies or just the usual festivities? You be the judge. I hope Turkey's tourism pocketbook is hit real hard by this. They need another wakeup call about all this Islamic horseradish. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-27 21:17 |
| #1 "We have no further details in terms on the cause of the explosions or the location," she said I bet I can give them a cause for the explosions. I'm thinking it wasn't gas leaks... |
| Posted by: Thoth 2006-08-27 20:57 |