Bomb attack in Istanbul kills four, reports say
Three soldiers and one teenage girl were killed and six others wounded on Tuesday in a bomb attack targeting a bus carrying military families in the Turkish city of Istanbul, media reports say.
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A roadside bomb blew up a military bus in Istanbul on Tuesday killing three soldiers and a teenage girl and wounding six people, media reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack came amid a dramatic rise in violence by separatist Kurdish rebels, who have threatened to spread their attacks to urban centres.
"This is a terrorist attack... According to initial information, it was a remote-control bomb planted at the roadside," Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters.
The bomb reportedly exploded around 4:45 am GMT when the bus drove through the Halkali district, a suburb on the European side of the city. Relatives of the soldiers, including children, were also on board the coach, the TV channels NTV and CNN-Turk reported. Both channels have broadcast images of the heavily damaged coach.
Several ambulances were rushed to the scene which has been cordoned off by police.
At the weekend, the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) threatened to launch attacks in all Turkish cities.
The PKK listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed around 45,000 lives.
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