Kurdish separatists claim bombing
Kurdish rebels have have claimed responsibility for the recent bombing in an eastern Turkish city that left 17 people injured on Saturday.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed Kurdish separatist movement, said on its website that it had organised an attack near a police guest house in the eastern city of Igdir that injured the 17, according to the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
The claim comes after some controversy over who carried out an attack earlier this month in the south eastern city of Diyarbakir, a predominantly Kurdish city. At least seven children died in the attack.
The PKK denied the attack, although the Turkish government said that the bomb had gone off while being transported by members of the PKK.
Cooperation
The blasts also follow a recent declaration of co-operation between Turkey, the US and Iraq in fighting PKK rebels, who are based in northern Iraq.
PKK fighters have intensified their attacks across the country and ignored a recent call by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party to declare a unilateral cease-fire in an attempt to establish dialogue with the state.
Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, said the PKK could declare a new cease-fire in the coming days, according to Turkey’s state-owned Anatolia news agency.