Death toll in Istanbul blast rises to 17, PKK denies link (2nd Lead)

Jul 28, 2008, 19:55 GMT

Ankara - The death toll from a bomb blast in Istanbul Sunday night rose to 17 on Monday as police continued to search for clues as to who was behind the attack, the Anadolu news agency reported.

More than 150 people were injured in the attack where a first small bomb which had been placed in a rubbish bin on a crowded pedestrian street in the suburb of Gungoren on the European side of Istanbul exploded at around 9:45 pm (1645 GMT).

The small bomb was followed by a much larger blast around 10 to 12 minutes later and around 50 metres down the street, Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene of the blast.

A number of children were killed in the blasts, including 12-year- old Seyma Ozkan who was watching the commotion after the first from the fourth-floor balcony of her house when the second bomb exploded, Anadolu reported on Monday.

There were conflicting reports over whether Kurdish separatists may have been behind the blasts.

Opposition leader Deniz Baykal on Monday said his sources told him the PKK was indeed behind the attack.

'According to information I have received from the police this was the work of the PKK,' NTV television quoted Baykal.

The PKK denied any link to the blasts.

'This is a dark incident. ... This incident has no connection to the Kurdish freedom struggle. They cannot make a connection with the PKK,' Zubeyir Aydar, a former Turkish parliamentarian who is now head of the political section of the PKK, told the PKK-linked Firat news agency.

Other groups to have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul include radical leftist groups and Islamic fundamentalists who in 2003 carried out a series of suicide bomb attacks on synagogues, the HSBC Bank and the British Consulate in 2003 which left dozens dead.

Three teenagers were taken into custody after the blast after they were found to be hiding in a basement of an apartment block not far from the blasts, the ANKA news agency reported. The three told police they were hiding because they were scared.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his official programme for Monday in order to rush to Istanbul and President Abdullah Gul condemned the attacks.

'No aims can be achieved with violence, killing innocent people and terrorism,' Gul said. 'These attacks show how inhumane and terrible the perpetrators are.'