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Istanbul Blasts

Arrests Made as PKK Denies Involvement

Police have made three arrests in connection with the deadly blasts that killed 17 people on Sunday night in Istanbul. Kurdish rebels are reported to be at the top of the list of suspects, but a leading Turkish daily reports the PKK has denied involvement.

A double bomb attack in Istanbul on Sunday night killed 17 people and injured over 150 in the deadliest terror attack to befall Turkey in over five years. No one has yet claimed responsibility and Kurdish rebels, the focus of initial suspicions, have denied involvement, according to media reports. But police reportedly detained three teenagers in connection with the blasts.

Instanbul Governor Muammar Guler told reporters that there was "no doubt that this is a terror attack." The first bomb exploded at 9.45 p.m. local time in a busy square in the residential neighborhood of Gungoren. A second, much bigger, explosion occurred around 10 minutes later causing many casualties amongst those who had rushed to help the earlier victims. The governor's office told reporters that 154 people were injured, of whom 15 are reported to be in critical condition.

The attack is the worst to hit Istanbul since 2003 when al-Qaida linked suicide bombings struck two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank, killing almost 60 people.

Kurdish separatists, Islamist militants and the far-left have all been responsible for terrorist acts in Turkey in the past. On July 9 gunmen attacked the US consulate in Istanbul, killing three police officers. The three attackers, believed to have been inspired by al-Qaida, were all killed during the shoot-out.

Initially, officials believed operatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were responsible for Sunday's bombings, which came just hours after Turkish fighter jets struck suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq. CNN-Türk television, citing security sources, said police suspected the PKK could be behind the attacks because intelligence reports said that the group was planning a bombing campaign in Turkish cities.

On Monday, however, the Milliyet newspaper quoted an intelligence officer in Ankara who said the PKK had denied any responsibility for the attack. The same paper reported on its Web site that police arrested three teenagers, aged 16 and 17, in connection with the attack on Sunday. Responding to a tip-off from residents, police located the three youth in the basement of an apartment building located close to the site of the explosions.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, both of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), strongly condemned Sunday's bombings. "No goals can be achieved with violence, killing innocent people and terrorism," Gul said in a statement. Erdogan has cancelled his schedule for Monday to go to visit the scene of the blasts in Istanbul.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also strongly condemned the attacks. Speaking in Afghanistan, where he is on a four-day visit, he said: "In this difficult situation, Germany stands at the side of Turkey and its people. The instigators of this cowardly attack must not be allowed to prevail."

The blasts hit on the eve of deliberations by Turkey's Constitutional Court on whether to ban the ruling Islamist-rooted AKP. The court case is linked to a power struggle between the government and the country's strictly secularist establishment, who accuse the AKP of trying to bring in Islamist rule in through the back door. Tensions have risen in recent weeks following the police arrest of two former generals implicated in a plot by an ultra-nationalist group to overthrow the government. The court could make its ruling on the AKP's future as early as this week.

smd/ap/reuters/dpa