Bomb in Turkish Bazaar Kills 2 Tourists; 15 People Injured

A bomb planted in a shoeshine box by suspected Kurdish separatists exploded in Istanbul’s Covered Bazaar on Saturday, killing two tourists and injuring at least 15 people.

Security officials said at least eight foreign tourists were among the injured. Some of the 15 were in critical condition.

The Anatolian news agency identified the dead as Munira Najan, 40, a Tunisian woman, and Javier Castro, a Spanish man. It said Najan’s 17-year-old son, Mehdi, four Spaniards, two Frenchmen and a Lebanese man were wounded.

It was the second bombing of the popular tourist site in 10 days. Four people were injured in a blast March 24 and three tourists were wounded when a bomb went off in the garden of St. Sophia, a 6th-Century Byzantine basilica, on March 27.

Police said that no one had claimed responsibility for Saturday’s explosion but that they suspected the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

If that suspicion is borne out, the tourists would be the first foreign victims of the PKK’s separatist war since it was launched in 1984.

In Madrid, a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that a Spaniard was killed. The four injured Spaniards were believed to be out of danger, he said, quoting the Spanish consul.

Witnesses said the bomb had been planted in a shoeshine box in front of a jewelry shop and exploded at 10:30 a.m., shattering windows and smashing furniture in nearby shops.

“I threw myself out of my shop after the blast and saw two people lying on the ground. The legs of one of the victims appeared severed. I thought both were dead,” a young assistant at a carpet shop told Reuters TV reporter Kemal Gokakin.

Witnesses said they had seen an unfamiliar boy for several minutes before the blast standing in front of the shop next to the shoeshine box.

Yildirim Aktuna, state minister and government spokesman, visited the site and condemned the bombing.

“This was a cowardly, sneaky attack,” he told reporters.

Aktuna said additional measures would be taken to safeguard tourist attractions and crowded sites. With more than 4,000 shops, the 15th-Century Covered Bazaar is one of Turkey’s leading tourist attractions.

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In an interview with an Athens daily published Thursday, the PKK’s political wing said the outlawed group would launch a warlike campaign against tourist targets in Turkey this year.

“Last year’s campaign against Turkish tourism was just a warning. The real campaign begins this year and it will be like war,” Hassan Dag of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan said.

“The attacks against tourist targets are part of our war action and it is logical that there will be human victims,” he said. “What we want is to stop tourist money from entering Turkey. This money is used to massacre our people.”