Bomb explodes outside Bush hotel in Turkey

A bomb exploded today in front of a hotel where President George Bush is expected to stay when he visits Ankara this weekend ahead of a NATO summit.

Two police officers and a civilian were injured.

One of the police officers lost a foot in the blast, said Adil Surat, head of the trauma unit at the Turkish capital’s University hospital.

Ankara police chief Ercument Yilmaz said the policemen were injured when they approached a package containing the explosives to verify an anonymous tip that a bomb had been placed nearby.

The bomb exploded some 75 yards from the entrance of the hotel, shattering windows of nearby buildings.

Bush is scheduled to arrive in Ankara late Saturday night and is to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Sezer on Sunday.

Bush is visiting Ankara ahead of Monday’s NATO summit in Istanbul.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said security measures would be heightened after the blast.

Turkish media had been reporting 7,000 police officers would be on duty in the capital for the Bush visit.

“Measures will be increased from now on,” Sahin said. ”There are people with bad intentions who can take every risk to fulfil their goal.”

Militant Islamic, Kurdish and left wing groups have carried out past attacks in Turkey, and scores of people believed to be linked to such groups have been detained in security sweeps in recent weeks.

Concerns about security have grown in Turkey since last November, when four suicide truck bombings killed more than 60 people, including the British consul, in attacks on two synagogues, the British consulate and a London-based bank.

Prosecutors say a Turkish al-Qaida-linked cell carried out those attacks.

About a half-dozen small sound bombs – explosives designed primarily to make noise and not cause serious damage – have exploded in Istanbul in recent days.