The Europe-based Firat News agency said on its website that an anonymous person said the blast was carried out by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) in a telephone call to the agency.

Turkish officials say the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons are a cover group used by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to carry out attacks on civilian targets that would draw international condemnation.

TAK has been blamed for a series of bomb attacks in Turkey last year, including one in the Aegean resort of Kusadasi in July which killed five people, including two foreign tourists.

The PKK, blacklisted by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has been fighting the Ankara government since 1984 when it picked up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.

The conflict has claimed sone 37,000 lives.