Three dead in Turkey resort blast
An explosion in the centre of one of Turkey’s most popular tourist resorts killed three people and injured at least 20 others today – less than a day after bomb attacks struck another tourist centre and an Istanbul neighbourhood.
Authorities said they were looking for two suspects, suggesting that today’s explosion in the Mediterranean town of Antalya was the result of a bomb, though they would not say that.
A militant Kurdish group that has threatened to target Turkey’s vital tourism industry claimed responsibility for the two bomb attacks last night and again warned tourists against coming to Turkey.
Today’s blast ripped the facade off at least one multi-storey building and several shops in the centre of Antalya and triggered a huge fire that incinerated the bodies of two people who were apparently killed in the explosion. A third person died in hospital.
Medics rushed to treat three people lying on the pavement off the main street. One young man carried a woman in his arms. Blood could be seen dripping from her feet.
The street was covered with broken glass mixed with blood.
Twenty people were injured, said a police spokesman, who said the injury toll did not include lightly injured people.
One report put the overall injury toll at 71, including a Jordanian and four Israeli tourists.
Police said they were looking for two suspects.
Antalya is a popular tourist resort with Russians, Germans and Israelis.
In one of yesterday’s attacks, a bomb placed on a minibus exploded in another Mediterranean resort town, Marmaris, injuring 10 British tourists and 11 Turks.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the much larger Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for that blast and an earlier attack yesterday in Istanbul that injured six people.
“We had warned before, Turkey is not a safe country, tourists should not come to Turkey,” the group said in a statement on its website.
Kurdish militants have been fighting for autonomy in south eastern Turkey since 1984 and most PKK attacks have been limited to the largely Kurdish south east. The Falcons have concentrated attacks on Turkey’s western cities and tourism centres.
Britain’s Foreign Office said 10 Britons were among those injured in yesterday’s bombing in Marmaris. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
Officials at Ahu Hetman hospital, where seven of the tourists were taken, said most of the injured suffered burns and shrapnel injuries.
“They had shrapnel wounds to their arms and legs, some facial burns and injuries caused by flying glass,” said hospital spokeswoman Julie Midgley. But she added that ”they have no life threatening conditions”.
The injured included three children or teenagers, hospital officials said. Two people underwent surgery at Ahu Hetman and were in intensive care, the hospital said.
In London, the Foreign Office said a rapid deployment team was being sent to assist victims and would be led by British Ambassador Peter Westmacott.
The Foreign Office also warned of “a high threat from terrorism in Turkey”.
“We believe that international terrorist groups, as well as indigenous ones, are currently active in Turkey. Further attacks, including in tourist areas, could well occur,” the Foreign Office said.
