Kurdish rebels were responsible for the bombings of two Istanbul hotels earlier this week which left two dead and 11 injured, most of them tourists, Turkish police said Friday.
Both an extremist organisation linked to the al Qaeda network and a previously unknown Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, had claimed responsibility for the near simultaneous pre-dawn Tuesday attacks against the hotels in downtown Istanbul.
Police spokesman Ramazan Er told a news conference that authorities were convinced the attacks were carried out by the former Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now known as KONGRA-GEL, which has waged a two-decade armed campaign against the central government in mainly Kurdish south-east Turkey.
"The incidents in the hotels in Istanbul are definitely an act of the PKK/KONGRA-GEL
They sometimes resort to such sections (the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons) to cover up their deeds," Er said.
He gave no further details on the investigation into the blasts.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Thursday urged foreign tourists and investors to leave Turkey, warning that more attacks would follow.
The threat came at the peak of the holiday season in the country, whose fragile economy relies heavily on vital revenues from the tourism sector.
According to media reports, police in Istanbul are looking for four Kurdish militants trained in bomb-making who could have carried out Tuesday's attacks.
The suspects are reportedly loyal to senior PKK commander Murat Karayilan, who is believed to head a militant wing of the organisation opposed to a cease-fire.
Police already had intelligence that a group, calling itself "The August 15 Initiative," was preparing for attacks in big cities, reports said.
August 15 will mark the 20th anniversary of the start of PKK's bloody separatist campaign in the predominantly Kurdish south-east.
The conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives.
The PKK called off a five-year unilateral cease-fire with Ankara on June 1. The rebels have since been blamed for some 50 attacks on security forces in the conflict-torn south-east, which had enjoyed relative calm during the truce period.
Comments
Comments are closed.