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Kurdish rebel group claims weekend blasts in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Aug 28, 2006 (AFP) - A Kurdish armed separatist group claimed responsibility on Monday for a blast that tore apart a bus in a Turkish resort at the weekend, injuring 21 people including 10 British tourists.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) rebel group on Monday said in a statement on its website that it carried out the attack in the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris on Sunday, as well as an earlier blast in Istanbul.

It said the attacks were in revenge for the imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, the figurehead of the fight for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey.

Ocalan has been in jail since 1999, serving a life sentence for his activities as head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody struggle for self-rule since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The TAK has also claimed earlier attacks, including one in July 2005 which killed five people including an Irish teenager and a British woman in the western resort of Kusadasi.

The group's announcement coincided with news of another bombing on Monday, which reportedly killed three people and injured around 20 in the southern resort town of Antalya.