Turkish tourist bomb blast injures 10

An apparent bomb explosion today injured about 10 people in the Turkish coastal town of Cesme, news reports said.

The explosives were placed in a rubbish bin near a bank in downtown Cesme, a popular tourist destination, some 44 miles from the Aegean port city of Izmir.

There were no claims of responsibility for the explosion, and it was not immediately clear how serious in the injuries were.

Kurdish rebels, Islamic and leftist militants often plant bombs in rubbish bins.

Bomb squads cordoned off the area. Halil Tatas, police chief of Izmir, was also at the scene investigating the explosion.

Kurdish guerrillas have claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in the Aegean resort town of Kusadasi, that killed one police officer and injured two others on April 30.

Guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have battled government forces in a conflict that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984 in south-eastern Turkey.

Fighting in the region tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, which followed the capture of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. But there has been a surge in violence since June 2004, when the rebels declared an end to the ceasefire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.

The rebels have recently threatened to spread the war across Turkey.

The guerrilla group, considered as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union, has also threatened to target Turkey’s lucrative tourism industry, accusing Turkey of using tourism revenues to support its military drive against the guerrillas.