Turkey bomb group warns Britons

12 April 2012

Eight British holidaymakers are still being treated in hospital after being caught up in a bloody weekend of bombings at Turkish holiday resorts that left three people dead.

A militant Kurdish group claimed responsibility for Sunday night's blast - which injured 10 Britons, four seriously - in the popular seaside town of Marmaris, and warned that Turkey was not safe for tourists.

Another bomb attack in Istanbul on Sunday injured six people, and a blast yesterday in the Turkish coastal resort of Antalya left three dead and at least 20 others wounded.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said initial reports suggested there were no Britons among those killed or injured in Antalya. It added that a rapid deployment team was en route to Marmaris to join consular teams working with British holidaymakers affected.

Ten Britons and 11 Turks were injured late on Sunday night after a bomb blew apart a minibus in the centre of Marmaris. There were two other explosions at the same time in rubbish bins on the town's main boulevard, an area lined with bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants. There were no injuries connected with these blasts.

The Foreign Office released a telephone number - 020 7008 0000 - for people worried about relatives in Marmaris, but it said that all next of kin of the injured had been contacted.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the much larger Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility.

"We had warned before, Turkey is not a safe country, tourists should not come to Turkey," the group said in a statement on its website.

Kurdish militants have been fighting for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey since 1984 and most PKK attacks have been limited to the largely Kurdish south east. But the Falcons have concentrated attacks on Turkey's western cities and tourist resorts.

The Government has not changed the level of its official advice for British travellers visiting Turkey but it warns of "a high threat from terrorism".

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