A huge blast, believed to be caused by a bomb, rocked a
supermarket in Istanbul on Monday, wounding 15 people, local media
reported.
Police sources were quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news
agency as saying that two of the wounded were in critical
condition.
Earlier, local authorities put the figure of the wounded at six.
Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler was quoted by Anatolia as saying
that an investigation into the cause of the blast was currently
underway, adding "it seems to be caused by a device that
exploded."
Meanwhile, Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah said that
there was no surveillance camera system at the supermarket and that
the blast occurred at the deposits section of the shop on late
Monday, according to the report.
The entrance of the two-storey supermarket, located in the
Bahcelievler district of Istanbul which is Turkey's largest city
and popular tourism destination, was badly damaged, added there
port.
Earlier, the private NTV cited Guler as accusing Kurdish
militants of carrying out the attack.
The incident came shortly after a Thursday bomb explosion at an
Internet cafe in Istanbul, which killed one person and wounded
about 15 others.
Istanbul also witnessed a series of suicide bombings targeting
British and Jewish interests in the city in November 2003. Some 60
people were killed in the attacks carried out by al-Qaida-linked
Turkish militants.
Kurdish rebel groups also launched bombing attacks in Turkey in
the past.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2006)
