Kurdish group claims Turkey's Istanbul explosion

A Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for a blast in Turkish largest city of Istanbul on Friday, which killed at least one person and injured dozens of others, Turkish media reported.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons said the attack was in retaliation for killings of Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

The blast occurred in a trash container close to bus stops in Fatih district in the Istanbul, semi-official Anatolia News Agency quoted security forces as saying.

The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals while ambulances and fire fighters have rushed to the scene for rescue works.

Police have cordoned off the blast site for investigation.

The explosion in Istanbul coincided with demonstrations and riots in southeastern Turkey provinces, which have left at least seven people, including a three-year-old boy, dead and hundreds wounded since March 28.

The pro-Kurdish demonstrations and violence began on Tuesday after funerals of four of 14 PKK members, who were killed in an earlier military operation launched by Turkish security forces.

The PKK launched an armed campaign against Ankara in 1984, fighting for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.

Fighting has subdued significantly since the PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999. But the PKK called off a unilateral ceasefire in 2004, disrupting the fragile peace.

More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast since then.

Ankara refuses to negotiate with the PKK, deeming it as a terrorist organization.

Source: Xinhua