Injured foreign tourists are seen after a blast rocked the Turkish tourist resort of Antalaya on Aug. 28.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a small group linked to the main Kurdish guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility Aug. 29 on its Web site for attacks and warned that "Turkey is not a safe country. Tourists should not come to Turkey."

Kurdish militants have repeatedly threatened to target Turkey's tourism industry as part of their fight for autonomy in the Turkish southeast.

The same militant group had also claimed responsibility for a 2005 bomb blast in the resort town of Kusadasi that killed five people, including two foreigners and injured 13 others.

On Aug. 28, another explosion in the Mediterranean resort town of Antalya killed three people and injured 20.

The Istanbul blast on Aug. 27 injured six people in a low-income area of Istanbul, with another attack targeting a bus carrying tourists in the town of Marmaris.

The past few months have seen an upsurge in violent attacks that have left dozens of soldiers and guerrillas dead in the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

Kurdish militants have been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984 and most PKK attacks have been limited to the largely Kurdish southeast. The Falcons, however, have concentrated attacks on Turkey's western cities and tourism centers.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 2, 2006
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