Suspected Kurdish rebels detonate bomb
5/4/2006 AP - By Suzan Fraser
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday as a Turkish military vehicle passed by in a Kurdish area, injuring eight soldiers as well as 11 children playing nearby, officials said.
The vehicle was escorting a school bus carrying soldiers' children but none of those aboard the bus was injured, a statement from the Hakkari governor's office said.
Authorities blamed Kurdish rebels for the bomb, which was detonated by remote control.
The explosion, on a road near military barracks in the city of Hakkari, also wounded two women.
The Hakkari State Hospital said none of the injured were in serious condition and all but two had been discharged by Wednesday evening.
Authorities detained 16 people suspected of involvement in the attack, the governor's office said.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer condemned the attacked and said the rebels, seeking autonomy from Turkey, would never achieve their goal.
"By targeting children, the terrorist organization has once again shown its ugly face," Sezer said in a written statement.
Clashes between soldiers and the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have intensified recently. Nearly 40 rebels and some 14 soldiers have been killed in fighting since the start of the year.
Turkey's military has boosted its troop presence in the predominantly Kurdish southeast and massed soldiers on Turkey's borders with Iraq and Iran in an effort to prevent rebels who have bases there from infiltrating into Turkey.
The PKK has been battling for autonomy for more than two decades in Turkey's southeast. The clashes have killed some 37,000 people since 1984.
The Associated Press
One of the main turkish propagando moto against PKK is "baby killers".
One can't blame PKK for not trying to stand for its reputation...
