TURKEY: Three dead, dozens hurt in fresh blast in Turkey -- the fifth to hit the country in less than 24 hours

Three people died and dozens more were injured in a blast in Turkey's Mediterranean city Antalya on Monday (August 28), the fifth bomb to hit the country in less than 24 hours. Two witnesses told Reuters by telephone from Antalya they heard a loud explosion, which broke windows, shattered glass, and sparked a fire at a shopping area in the centre of the city, one of Turkey's most popular tourist destinations. A local businessman, who declined to be named said a parked motorbike next to a tramway had exploded and pieces of the motorbike were shattered all around, killing a street vendor. Local police said two people were killed in the attack and many more were injured, with one policeman saying up to 50 may have been hurt. Shortly afterwards private broadcaster NTV reported another person had died at hospital from injuries. State-run Anatolian news agency said a nearby street had been shut off to traffic because a suspicious bag was found. A bomb squad was on its way to the scene. The Antalya blast came less than 24 hours after three bombs in the coastal tourist resort of Marmaris injured 21 people within 15 minutes and another device in Istanbul wounded six people earlier in the evening. In Marmaris, 10 Britons and six Turks in Marmaris were wounded when a bomb placed under a seat in a minibus exploded on a street crowded with bars and restaurants around midnight. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Antalya and Marmaris are resorts popular with west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks. Some 1.8 million Britons are expected to visit Turkey this year, most to the country's coast. Locals are concerned the tourist industry, a powerful motor of the Turkish economy, would be further dented by the attacks, which are the latest in a string of bombings over the past year. Security was stepped up along the coast, still packed with tourists. Policemen were patrolling the beach and asking sunbathers to leave after a suspicious bag was found in the sand but bomb security experts found out it was a false alarm. Marmaris is a resort popular with west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks. Some 1.8 million Britons are expected to visit Turkey this year, most to the country's coast. The tourist industry, a powerful motor of the Turkish economy, had hoped to attract 20 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and 26 million visitors this year. But a string of bombings over the year has hurt the foreign currency earner. "It is so frightening, it is terrifying, I can't wait to get home now," one British tourist said. "I think it is really bad, I think a lot of innocent people get killed and somebody should do something about it," another tourist added. Levent Bachceci, who works as a minibus driver, said all precautions have been taken to safeguard the tourists. "We are checking everybody now. Actually we are worried. We check everything under chairs and and inside the mini bus before driving." Victims injured in overnight explosions that hit the coastal resort of Marmaris were being treated in hospital on Monday (August 28). The British Foreign Office said three Britons were in intensive care. British ambassador Peter Westmacott travelled from Ankara to visit some of the wounded at the Ahu Hetam hospital in Marmaris. "I would to say a big thank you to all the staff at this hospital and to the emergency services here in Marmaris who clearly did a magnificent job operating very quickly, very efficiently and looking after these British subjects who have been victims of this terrible terrorist attack. And I would like to say how grateful I am for the extraordinary help that they have given so far." Of the 21 casualties in Marmaris, nine have been discharged from hospital. Kurdish separatists, leftists and Islamic militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past. Last year five people were killed, including a British woman and an Irish woman, when a bomb ripped through a minibus at a holiday resort. The new blasts came two days after two bombs exploded in the southern Turkish city of Adana, injuring four people. There has been an upsurge in guerrilla violence, mainly in the southeast, over the past year. Dozens of security officials and PKK rebels have been killed. Local authorities pledged to find the culprits, suspected of belonging to the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a more than 20-year campaign to carve a homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeast. The PKK launched a separatist campaign in 1984. Turkey, like the United States and European Union, considers the group a terrorist organisation and blames it for the deaths of more than 30,000 people. Kurdish separatists, leftists and Islamic militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.

ITN Source | August 29, 2006

Tags:. .squad. .militants. .midnight. .terrible. .nearby