(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, 1 MARCH - Terrorists are back in action
in Turkey's main city, Istanbul, struggling with the Kurds'
claims for independence. According to official sources, a bomb
allegedly placed on a motorbike exploded this morning at nine,
local time, injuring 16 people, most of them policemen
travelling on a police van. The blast took place in the
neighbourhood of Sutluce, hosting the Province's headquarters of
AKP, the party of Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan. First,
allegations were made that the AKP premises were the real
target; however, the media later reported that the Islamic
Entrepreneurs association (Musiad) premises offices are located
even closer to the place of the explosion. The head of the
Istanbul Police, Huseyin Capkin reported that the bomb exploded
while a van transporting 21 policemen was passing by. None of
the injured was seriously affected by the explosion, and only
one of them is a civilian. Web sites and the TV have been
showing the right side of the white and blue van damaged by the
explosionall morning. Also two private cars were allegedly
damaged by the bomb. Erdogan condemned the attack and ensured
that the fight to terrorism will go on. The Prime Minister did
not disclose the identity of the suspected, but he ensured that,
"these assassins will not achieve the goal of damaging our
unity": the implicit reference is to Turkey's unity, fought by
the Kurdish Independence Party, the PKK, who has been carrying
out a low-intensity conflict since 1984, causing over 40,000 to
die. Similarly, last year a "bomb-bicycle" of medium power
exploded last May in a Istanbul district, injuring eight people
including a policeman. Although no one had claimed
responsibility for the attack then, Erdogan was sure that the
Kurdish nationalist terrorists were behind it on the occasion of
last June 12th's parliamentary elections. A sub-group of PKK,
the "Hawks for Kurdistan's Freedom" (the so-called TAK, who are
usually assigned the "dirty job" such as terrorist attacks in
the city) had claimed responsibility for the suicide bomber
attack that had hit Istanbul on October 31st, 2010 in central
Taksim Square. The attack injured 32, including 15
policemen.(ANSAmed).
