Three women were killed late Sunday amid violent pro-Kurdish protests in Istanbul as the death toll from demonstrations in southeast Turkey rose to 12, local media reported on Monday.

Violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast spilled over to Istanbul as protestors rampaged on Sunday in the renowned largest Turkish city which holds a large Kurdish population.

Unidentified protestors wearing marks threw firebombs on a city bus in Istanbul's Bagcilar district late Sunday and set the vehicle on fire.

The flaming bus lost control and swerved onto a sidewalk near a bus stop, running down a group of people, said the reports, adding that three women were killed and two others wounded in the incident.

Meanwhile, local officials announced on Monday that the death toll from demonstrations that started on Saturday in Nusaybin and Kiziltepe towns in the southeast province of Mardin rose to 12.

Dozens of others, including policemen, were also injured in fierce clashes between the Kurdish demonstrators and police.

A total of 58 people were taken into custody.

The days-long demonstrations, mainly in southeast, erupted since last Tuesday's funerals for 14 members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), killed in a recent security operation.

The Turkish authorities have accused the PKK of attempting to use the continuous demonstrations as a means of propaganda and creating tensions in the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to take necessary measures against the rioters.

The PKK launched an armed campaign against the Turkish government in 1984, fighting for an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey.

Violence has escalated since June 2004 when the PKK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire and ended a period of relative calm in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Source: Xinhua