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  Bomb in Ankara: Turkey Focuses on Kurdish Rebels in Blast

Bomb in Ankara Turkey Focuses on Kurdish Rebels in Blast

A day after a bomb killed six and injured 100 in the Turkish capital, officials believe the Kurdish separatist group PKK may be behind the attack. But they're not the only ones who stand to gain.

One day after a powerful bomb exploded outside a packed shopping mall in the Turkish capital of Ankara, investigators are focusing on the possible involvement of the Kurdish separatist group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the attack.

Six were killed and 100 injured in the blast, which went off in the early evening as the streets were full of people heading home after the work day. Police say that early tests show that the plastic explosive A-4 -- a material favored by the PKK -- may have been involved in the explosion.

"This is an explosion by an organized terror group," military Chief of General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit said on Tuesday evening after surveying the damage. "You can expect this in any big city now."

The attack was the worst in over 10 years in Ankara and the street out front of the mall was covered with broken glass and debris as rescue workers rushed bloodied victims to waiting ambulances. According to news reports, three bodies lay on the street long after the explosion as first aid workers attended to the injured. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that four Turks and a Pakistani were among the dead, though other officials quoted different numbers. One of the wounded died later in hospital, raising the death toll to six.

Up to 10 other Pakistanis were wounded, many of them in Ankara for a defense industry fair organized by the Turkish military. Investigators were looking into whether the attack on Tuesday was carried out by a suicide bomber with one police official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, saying that the lack of a crater may indicate a suicide attack. The prosecutor's office banned the broadcasting of images from the site saying it could hurt public moral.

The US Embassy in Ankara immediately expressed "shock and horror" at the attack and said the country "remains steadfast in our determination to work together with the government of Turkey to combat terrorism in all its forms."

The PKK, which both the US and the European Union identify as a terrorist group, has long been waging a struggle for increased autonomy in south-western Turkey and on May 18 announced the lifting of a unilateral cease-fire. Turkey has accused the US military in the past of not doing enough to root out PKK fighters just across the border in northern Iraq, where, the Turkish government says, the militants regroup for attacks on Turkey. The Turkish military in 2006 even said it would consider crossing into Iraq to go after the PKK.

PKK commander Mural Karayilan, however, has blamed Turkish intelligence agents for a number of recent explosions in the town of Arbil in northern Iraq. He also said that similar attacks would occur in Ankara.

With just two months to go until snap general elections in July, the attack could be an attempt to raise tensions in an already edgy political atmosphere. Kurds have accused Erdogan's government of trying to sideline their candidates. But Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) also recently lost a bid to have Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül elected president by the Turkish parliament. Massive protests by the Turkish secular opposition, concerned about the AKP's political Islam background, accompanied Gül's candidacy.

The Turkish military likewise warned the AKP to back away from trying to get Gül elected president. Turkey's generals see themselves as the protectors of the secularism established by modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The tremendous ongoing popularity of the AKP, however, threatens to erode the influence of Turkey's military in public life. Some experts have voiced doubt that the generals will stand idly by while the military loses its influence.

Kurdish rebels blew up a bus stop in the city of Diyarbakir in September last year, killing 10. A month earlier, a Kurdish group likewise claimed responsibility for an explosion on a bus in the resort city of Marmaris that injured 20 people.

cgh/ap/reuters