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| The Grand Turk |
| Kurdish rebels claim deadly Istanbul bombing |
| 2010-06-23 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A radical Kurdish separatist group claimed Tuesday the deadly bombing of a bus in Istanbul in which five people died and threatened more attacks, in a statement posted on its website. The bus, carrying army personnel to work, was hit by a remote-control bomb planted on a road in Halkali, a suburb on Istanbul's European side, officials said. Four soldiers and a 17-year-old girl, the daughter of an officer, were killed, and a dozen passengers wounded in the attack early Tuesday. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said they bombed the bus because Turkey "is planning a massacre of the Kurdish people" and has adopted "a concept of aggression" against jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, it said. The Turkish authorities say TAK is a front used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody 26-year insurgency in the southeast, especially when attacks claim civilian casualties. The PKK has said TAK is a splinter group outside its control. TAK threatened to "increase the dosage of our action" because Ankara's policies "are forcing us to undertake even more intensive attacks." In a separate statement posted on its website, TAK claimed responsibility also for the June 8 bombing of a bus carrying policemen to work in Istanbul, which left 15 people wounded. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Interesting to see what the Govt's reaction will be. In the past 10 years or so (under first the secularists and then the Islamists) the Kurds in Turkey have been allowed to take Kurdish names, print newspapers and books in Kurdish and listen to Kurdish music, etc. Undoing those rudimentary reforms, which were prompted partly by the EU as a condition of membership, would be horrible. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-06-23 17:03 |