TURKEY: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan condemns bomb blast that injures fifteen police officers and a civilian

Record ID: 359442

  • Title: TURKEY: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan condemns bomb blast that injures fifteen police officers and a civilian
  • Date: 2nd March 2012
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (MARCH 01, 2012) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN ENTERING CONFERENCE HALL AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN SAYING: "I strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a police vehicle. Fifteen police officers and a civilian were wounded after a bomb left by a motorcycle went off." I
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ROXHB3O69KT4KA5P9DV2TPHM
  • Story Text: A remote control bomb injured 15 police officers and one civilian on Thursday (March 01) as a police minibus passed close to the Istanbul headquarters of Turkey's ruling AK Party, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said.
    Kurdish separatists, far left groups, far right groups and Islamist militants, including al Qaeda, have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
    "I strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a police vehicle. Fifteen police officers and a civilian were wounded after a bomb left by a motorcycle went off," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
    "We will continue to fight against terrorism. I believe that terrorist organisations will continue to lose strength with the support of our citizens and coordination of our security organisations" he said.
    The bomb exploded on a road junction next to a building site in the Sutluce district of Istanbul, a poor, but developing neighbourhood on the banks of the Golden Horn.
    "There was an explosion here. A police vehicle was passing nearby. I thought its tyre burst and the vehicle collided into a tree," said an eyewitness Nihat Yuce.
    Security guards from nearby offices and passers-by helped move the wounded to the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) building, a conservative business group close to the government whose headquarters are next door to the AK Party building.
    Fire engines and police vehicles surrounded the area and glass littered the streets as forensic officers in white overalls combed the area for evidence.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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