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Turkey's Erdogan calls for unity in the face of terrorism

Türkiye Materials 29 July 2008 15:08 (UTC +04:00)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called for unity in the face of terrorism and vowed that those responsible for Sunday's bomb blast in Istabul that killed 17 people would be brought to justice, reported dpa.

"Terror has shown its true face (but) they will not achieve their dark aims," Erdogan told party colleagues in Ankara. "We shall overcome these difficult days and come together in days for which we are worthy,"

Erdogan refused to name whom he believed to be behind the blast instead calling on the media to allow the police and intelligence services to complete their work.

As the families of the dead continued funeral preparations police were seeking a man in a black shirt who was captured on film by a mobile phone camera running down the street in Istanbul suburb of Gungoren just seconds before the second blast hit, Yenisafak newspaper reported on Tuesday.

A first small bomb which had been placed in a rubbish bin on a crowded pedestrian street in the working-class suburb exploded at around 9:45 pm (1645 GMT) Sunday night and was followed by a much larger blast around 10 to 12 minutes later and around 50 metres down the street. More than 150 people were injured in the blast.

Yenisafak reported that police had raided a number of houses around the city in their search for the attackers and that the second bomb was made of TNT explosives.

Turkish newspapers on Tuesday concentrated on allegations that the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) was behind the blast, quoting Istanbul governor Muammer Guler who said the attack seemed linked to "the separatist organization," and Erdogan who said on Monday the attack could be a reprisal for continued attacks on the PKK in the south- east and air strikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq.

The PKK on Monday denied involvement instead saying that it could be linked to fiercely-secularist nationalists in the so-called Ergenekon group who have allegedly been behind organized attacks and plotted assassinations of prominent Turks with the aim of destabilizing Erdogan's government.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay is expected to address parliament on either Tuesday or Wednesday to give a detailed report on investigations.

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