Istanbul bomb blast kills 1, wounds 16 others

ISTANBUL - A bomb blast today at an internet cafe in Istanbul killed a man and injured 16 other people, including seven police officers, and a hardline Kurdish group claimed responsibility.

The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, which has claimed to be behind a series of bombings in Turkey in recent years, carried out the attack in the Bayrampasa district, not far from Istanbul airport, according to a person who called the Kurdish Firat news agency claiming to speak on behalf of the group.

The group is believed to have links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting security forces in southeast Turkey. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report.

"It's a bomb explosion," Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the scene.

An official at Istanbul's Capa hospital said Zafer Isik, a 21-year-old civilian, had died from his wounds.

An official at Bayrampasa's police station said earlier 17 people had been wounded in total, including a child.

The blast occurred some 100m from a local headquarters for riot police. The internet cafe was regularly used by police.

Local people said the blast was very powerful.

"I heard a loud explosion and felt the ground move. It was like an earthquake. I ran to the shop and there was blood on the ground. One boy had lost a leg," Murat Seymen, a machine worker, said.

He said he helped carry the boy to a car to be taken to hospital. Another person lost an arm, he said.

A dozen officers sealed off the side street where the cafe is located.

Militant groups including Kurdish separatists, Islamists and ultra-leftists have carried out attacks on civilian, security and military targets in Turkey in the past.

Turkey blames the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is viewed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States, for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since they launched an armed struggle in 1984 for a Kurdish state.

Islamists set off a series of devastating bombs in Istanbul in November 2003, targeting British and Jewish sites and killing more than 60 people.

- REUTERS