PKK Takes Responsibility for Igdir Killings

25/09/2006| IslamWeb

Kurdish guerrilla group PKK has claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks, one of which  injured 17 people on Saturday.

The armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party said on its website that it 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 group also claimed responsibility for another bombing on Saturday that derailed a freight train in southeastern Turkey.

In a new attack on Monday, PKK fighters ambushed a Turkish military unit.

A lieutenant was killed and one government-employed village guard was injured, according to local authorities.

The attacks coincide with complaints by imprisoned Kurdish chief Abdullah Ocalan about his prison conditions, which were relayed by his lawyers and reported by the Firat news agency.

The blasts also follow a recent declaration of co-operation between Turkey, the United States and Iraq in fighting PKK guerrillas, 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.

More than 37,000 have died since the PKK took up arms for self-rule in southeast Turkey in 1984. 

PHOTO CAPTION

Masked Kurdish protesters wave banners with pictures of imprisoned Kurdish PKK rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan during a demonstration in Istanbul September 3, 2006. (REUTERS)