Bottle bomb blamed for Turkish blast

A bottle bomb exploded today in a popular resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast, injuring about 20 people, authorities said.

The explosives were stashed into a soft drink bottle that was placed in a rubbish bin near a bank in central Cesme, a popular tourist destination some 44 miles from the Aegean port city of Izmir, police said.

There were no claims of responsibility for the explosion, which happened at around 2.30pm (1.30pm Irish time).

Kurdish rebels, Islamic and leftist militants have been known to plant bombs in litter bins in several attacks in Turkey.

Hospital officials said about 20 people were injured in the blast. Governor Yusuf Ziya Aksu of Izmir said they included two foreign tourists.

“A fragmentation bomb caused the explosion,” Aksu told reporters. “Two of the injured were foreign tourists. Everything is under control now, authorities are continuing the investigation.”

Levent Kidak, a senior health official in Izmir, told the Anatolia news agency that one of the injured was in critical condition. “Our only consolation is that no one has died,” Kidak said.

Medical teams from Izmir were dispatched to help out in Cesme, which is a popular destination for wind surfers. Bomb squads cordoned off the area where the explosion occurred.

Kurdish guerrillas have previously 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.

Guerrillas 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 1, 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.