Turkey: Evidence points to female bomber

A bomb blast, possibly caused by a female suicide bomber, devastated a minibus today as it headed toward a popular beach in an Aegean Sea resort town, killing two Irish tourists and two Turks, police officials said.

The blast in Kusadasi, 45 miles southeast of the port city of Izmir, tore off the bus’ roof and sides, and 14 people, including six British people, were injured.

The bus was destroyed just a few yards from the coast.

A police official in Kusadasi said preliminary evidence pointed to a female suicide bomber. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the woman was a Turkish citizen.

Another police official, however, said the bomb could have been placed under the woman’s seat.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Kurdish rebels have recently carried out bomb attacks in Aegean resort towns.

Ali Baris, the governor of Kusadasi, said the blast occurred as the minibus travelled through the town square, but could not confirm whether it was caused by a suicide bomber.

Baris said the explosion killed at least four people, including two women, and injured 14, including several who were in critical condition.

The police official in nearby Aydin said two Irish tourists were among the dead. The other victims were identified as Turkish citizens.

A doctor at Kusadasi State Hospital said five injured tourists were transferred to Izmir for treatment.

The Anatolia news agency identified the five injured as British tourists, including a 16-year-old boy.

The British Foreign Office in London said five Britons were seriously injured and one sustained minor injuries in the blast. No details of the injuries were given.

Speaking shortly after the explosion, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was taking anti-terror measures, but added that “it is not possible to stop it 100%, no matter how strict security measures you take”.

Civilians ran to the bus after the attack and carried the injured away from the burning wreckage.

According to private NTV television, police suspect that C-4 plastic explosives were used in the attack. NTV said authorities had information that an attack could be carried out in Kusadasi.

Turkish military and intelligence officials have said Kurdish rebels were in possession of hundreds of pounds of C-4 obtained from Iraq. Unconfirmed intelligence reports have said the Kurdish rebels have sent about 70 suicide bombers to big cities in Turkey.

Earlier this month, a bomb hidden in a soda can wounded 21 people, including three foreign tourists, in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme. On April 30, a bomb in a cassette player killed a police officer and left four others wounded in Kusadasi.

A Kurdish guerrilla group that called itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Organisation or TAK claimed credit for both attacks and vowed to maintain attacks against tourist areas.

Kurdish rebels have carried out several suicide bomb attacks since 1996, when the group staged its first suicide bombing, killing six soldiers in the eastern city of Tunceli.

In 1999, two female suicide bombers carried out separate attacks injuring 27 people. The attacks, which targeted police stations, were to protest the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Since 1984, the Turkish military has been battling rebels of Ocalan’s autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast, a conflict that has claimed some 37,000 lives.

Fighting in the region tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, which followed Ocalan’s capture. But there has been a surge in violence since June 1, 2004, when the rebels declared an end to their ceasefire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.

TAK is believed to be linked to the PKK.