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Governor says suicide bomber carried out Turkey attack
Enlarge imageBy Hidir Goktas
ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber carried out the attack which killed six people in Turkey’s capital on Tuesday, and the type of explosives used point to Kurdish separatists, Ankara’s governor said on Wednesday.
"The examinations showed the body parts belong to Guven Akkus, a man born in Sivas (Turkey) in 1979," Kemal Onal told reporters after an emergency government meeting called following the attack, the worst in the capital in at least a decade.
"It is understood the incident was caused by the explosion of a plastic (explosives) bomb on this person’s body and the incident’s style matches the methods of the separatist organisation," the governor said.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984 and Ankara blames it for more than 30,000 deaths. It has carried out suicide bombings in the past.
Separately, Adana Governor Ilhan Atis told state-run Anatolian news agency that a would-be suicide bomber had been detained in the southern city while trying to escape in a car. The woman had 11.3 kg (25 lb) of explosive, two hand bombs and a dozen detonators, he added.
"I congratulate our police and gendarmerie, they did not let the suicide bomber upset us," Atis said.
Ankara governor Onal said 91 people were wounded in Tuesday’s .....continued below
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attack, which came at a time of heightened political tension in the EU-aspirant country. Authorities had earlier put the number of wounded at 102. Several Pakistanis were injured.Turkish media reported earlier that eight people had been detained in connection with the blast. The governor gave no details and police declined to comment.
Leading newspapers Hurriyet and Radikal said that the blast took place shortly before senior military commanders, including armed forces chief of General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit were due to pass the area to go to a defence industry reception.
Turkey’s lira currency fell on Wednesday, hit by worries over domestic instability after the bomb attack.
Turkey is a major tourism destination.
TENSIONS RISE
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, ended a unilateral ceasefire on May 18 and security experts had expected attacks to escalate as a result.
Turkey has repeatedly urged Iraq and the United States to crack down on an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels who use northern Iraq as a springboard to attack targets inside Turkey.
Last month, Buyukanit called for a military operation into northern Iraq to quash Turkish Kurdish rebels.
"Our security forces will do whatever necessary from A to Z against terror, there should be no doubt on this," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters when asked about possible cross-border operations.
Tuesday’s explosion comes amid heightened political tension.
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government has called a national election ahead of schedule to resolve a conflict with the secularist elite over a recent presidential election.
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By Hidir Goktas
ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber carried out the attack which killed six people in Turkey’s capital on Tuesday, and the type of explosives used point to Kurdish separatists, Ankara’s governor said on Wednesday.
"The examinations showed the body parts belong to Guven Akkus, a man born in Sivas (Turkey) in 1979," Kemal Onal told reporters after an emergency government meeting called following the attack, the worst in the capital in at least a decade.
"It is understood the incident was caused by the explosion of a plastic (explosives) bomb on this person’s body and the incident’s style matches the methods of the separatist organisation," the governor said.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984 and Ankara blames it for more than 30,000 deaths. It has carried out suicide bombings in the past.
Separately, Adana Governor Ilhan Atis told state-run Anatolian news agency that a would-be suicide bomber had been detained in the southern city while trying to escape in a car. The woman had 11.3 kg (25 lb) of explosive, two hand bombs and a dozen detonators, he added.
"I congratulate our police and gendarmerie, they did not let the suicide bomber upset us," Atis said.
Ankara governor Onal said 91 people were wounded in Tuesday’s attack, which came at a time of heightened political tension in the EU-aspirant country. Authorities had earlier put the number of wounded at 102. Several Pakistanis were injured.
Turkish media reported earlier that eight people had been detained in connection with the blast. The governor gave no details and police declined to comment.
Leading newspapers Hurriyet and Radikal said that the blast took place shortly before senior military commanders, including armed forces chief of General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit were due to pass the area to go to a defence industry reception.
Turkey’s lira currency fell on Wednesday, hit by worries over domestic instability after the bomb attack.
Turkey is a major tourism destination.
TENSIONS RISE
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, ended a unilateral ceasefire on May 18 and security experts had expected attacks to escalate as a result.
Turkey has repeatedly urged Iraq and the United States to crack down on an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels who use northern Iraq as a springboard to attack targets inside Turkey.
Last month, Buyukanit called for a military operation into northern Iraq to quash Turkish Kurdish rebels.
"Our security forces will do whatever necessary from A to Z against terror, there should be no doubt on this," Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters when asked about possible cross-border operations.
Tuesday’s explosion comes amid heightened political tension.
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government has called a national election ahead of schedule to resolve a conflict with the secularist elite over a recent presidential election.
The secular establishment, including the military, judges and opposition parties, derailed the government’s plan to elect Gul as president, fearing he might weaken the official separation of religion and state.
Kurdish separatists, leftist militants and hardline Islamists have all launched bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
In 2003, 30 people were killed and 146 wounded when suicide car bombs hit two synagogues in Istanbul. Five days later, 32 people were killed in similar attacks on the British consulate and HSBC bank in the city. The bombs were blamed on al Qaeda.
(Additional reporting by Selcuk Gokoluk in Ankara and Emma Ross-Thomas in Istanbul)
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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