Another Suicide Bomber targets Turkey beach bus

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A bomb blast destroyed a minibus Saturday as it headed toward a popular beach in an Aegean Sea resort town, killing five people, including a British and an Irish tourist, officials said.

The blast in Kusadasi, 72 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of the port city of Izmir, tore off the roof and sides of the bus. News photos showed body parts scattered next to the bus.

Fourteen people, including six Britons, were injured. One of the injured British tourists later died in a hospital, the British Foreign Office said.

Nurdogan Kaya, deputy governor of Aydin province, said the dead also included an Irish tourist. Two Turks were also killed, said Ali Baris, governor of Kusadasi. The identity of the fifth victim was not immediately clear.

Three Britons remained hospitalized with serious injuries and two with minor injuries, the Foreign Office said.

The Irish and British foreign ministers condemned the attack.

"I am deeply shocked by this cruel and senseless act," said Dermot Ahern, Ireland's minister for foreign affairs.

In London, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "As always we stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Turkey, in sympathy and in our refusal to allow terrorists to destroy our values and our liberty," he said.

A police official in Kusadasi said preliminary evidence pointed to a female suicide bomber whose body was torn apart in the blast.

But Kaya said the bombing was caused by a package planted on the minibus. Other officials said the bomb could have been placed under the woman's seat.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Kurdish rebels have recently carried out bombings in Aegean resort towns targeting the lucrative tourism industry but a top Kurdish rebel commander, Zubeyir Aydar, condemned the attack in a statement to the Germany-based Mezopotamya News Agency.

Leftist and Islamic militants are also active in the country.

Baris said the blast occurred as the minibus traveled through the town square. He said new evidence showed it was less likely that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.

Speaking shortly after the explosion, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was taking anti-terror measures, but added that "it is not possible to stop it 100 percent, no matter how strict security measures you take."

News photos of the bombing site showed a man's charred body hanging over the twisted remains of a seat in the devastated bus, and body parts scattered next to the bus. An injured woman was lying on the road, a few meters (yards) from the beach.

Civilians ran to the bus after the attack and carried the injured away from the burning wreckage.

According to private NTV television, police suspect that C-4 plastic explosives were used in the attack. NTV said authorities had information that an attack could be carried out in Kusadasi.

Turkish military and intelligence officials have said Kurdish rebels were in possession of hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of C-4 obtained from Iraq. Unconfirmed intelligence reports have said the Kurdish rebels have sent around 70 suicide bombers to big cities in Turkey.

Earlier this month, a bomb hidden in a soda can wounded 21 people, including three foreign tourists, in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme. On April 30, a bomb in a cassette player killed a police officer and left four others wounded in Kusadasi.

A Kurdish guerrilla group that called itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Organization or TAK claimed credit for both attacks and vowed to maintain attacks against tourist areas.

Kurdish rebels have carried out several suicide bomb attacks since 1996, when they staged their first suicide bombing, killing six soldiers in the eastern city of Tunceli.

In 1999, two female suicide bombers carried out separate attacks injuring 27 people. The attacks, which targeted police stations, were to protest the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Since 1984, the Turkish military has been battling rebels of Ocalan's autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast, a conflict that has claimed some 37,000 lives.

Fighting in the region tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, which followed Ocalan's capture. But there has been a surge in violence since June 1, 2004, when the rebels declared an end to their cease-fire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.

Now its no more a case of 'hunting them down'.

Before, it was a case of going to 1 country and bombing the living shit out of it. Terror stood pin-pointed and tall.

Now its different. Terror stands flat and wide-spread communicating through the internet.

How do Americans and Europeans intend to tackle the new situation as terror has become more wide-spread with cells operatiung as individuals ?

Originally posted by GCG
Now its no more a case of 'hunting them down'.

Before, it was a case of going to 1 country and bombing the living shit out of it. Terror stood pin-pointed and tall.

Now its different. Terror stands flat and wide-spread communicating through the internet.

How do Americans and Europeans intend to tackle the new situation as terror has become more wide-spread with cells operatiung as individuals ?

comments ? no-one ?

This is precisely why so many of us were against invading Iraq.... as far as how it will be handled? i hoinestly dont know.. but i damn sure dont think more war is the answer

Originally posted by bilb
This is precisely why so many of us were against invading Iraq.... as far as how it will be handled? i hoinestly dont know.. but i damn sure dont think more war is the answer

The problem is these radical Muslims want the whole world to live like they do, beleive what they do because they are so convinced they are right and that their way is the only way. I know few people who are Muslims and even though on TV and in the press the majority condemn violence, they all want to convert the world, FACT. The preffered way is to convert create kids and re-populate hte world, some european countires will have a Muslim majority in 10 - 15 years at the current rate.

You don´t ignore your enemy, you destroy him before he destroys you.
You can´t kill the peacefull ones, thats wrong. But the people who want to wipe out your race and religion through cowardly attacks or those who want to create mass destruction weapons need to be stopped, otherwise the folk will eventually turn against the normal muslims and linch them for 1.

War is most definatly the answer, some countries are just too weak and utterly pussy-fied that they refuse to fight.

Originally posted by GCG
Now its no more a case of 'hunting them down'.

Before, it was a case of going to 1 country and bombing the living shit out of it. Terror stood pin-pointed and tall.

Now its different. Terror stands flat and wide-spread communicating through the internet.

How do Americans and Europeans intend to tackle the new situation as terror has become more wide-spread with cells operatiung as individuals ?

First off...regardless of what ceratin civil rights groups think and feel-monitoring radio and Net' chatter is essential to the cause. They do it to catch child molesters, so why not terrorists?

Secondly..this was proposed before in an article I had read once:

The U.S. and the U.N. should assemble a Rapid Deployment Force
style team that is highly mobile, capable of cell to cell warfare with small groups of highly trained individuals who are supported at every level beyond the field ops to ensure their survivability rates remain high.

This force would be centralized in Europe for Euro ops and perhaps a U.S. one. Funding would be an issue, but having a reactionary force ready to go toe to toe with these scumbags at cell level and beyond, might really pay off if it's done right.

However, intel sharing is the big deal. How many times does "this" agency or "that" agency want to be the one whose right? Keeping the intel reliable and up to date as the situations change is the other half of the deal.

Either that or just hire Chavez and the rest of Rainbow Six and let em' loose 😉

Get Dick Marcinko to pic a few "specialists" from various countries, give them a list and set them loose. Then blame it on some fictional terrorist group.

The same sort of thing was done in N. Ireland with the IRA, and it was blamed on the Ulster Freedom Fighters, I know I served in the British army.

Just a thought:

You dont have to be a highly trained individual to carry out these attacks. The essential requisite is WILL. If a kid is willing to blow himself up, then all he needs is explosives provided and the WILL to carry out the attack.

and with all the anti-Iraq resentment in Muslim communities, there are thousands of individuals.

threaten to bomb Mecca.......Make them take matters into their own hands to save their holy place....They're smart people aren't they...Arabs can put a stop to it if they REALLY wanted to....Place it in their own hands.......just need a little prompting......

😑 Bomb Mecca ?

😆

Originally posted by GCG
Just a thought:

You dont have to be a highly trained individual to carry out these attacks. The essential requisite is WILL. If a kid is willing to blow himself up, then all he needs is explosives provided and the WILL to carry out the attack.

and with all the anti-Iraq resentment in Muslim communities, there are thousands of individuals.

Yeah, and that's the SCARY thing, that they aren't afraid to die. That must be some religious fervor to work yourself up to that level of idiocy..what the hell are the imams dropping in their drinks at the Mosques? Sheesh..

People can be Evil morons! 😒

Originally posted by GCG
Now its no more a case of 'hunting them down'.

Before, it was a case of going to 1 country and bombing the living shit out of it. Terror stood pin-pointed and tall.

Now its different. Terror stands flat and wide-spread communicating through the internet.

How do Americans and Europeans intend to tackle the new situation as terror has become more wide-spread with cells operatiung as individuals ?

Is their a news link for this?

Originally posted by GCG
Just a thought:

You dont have to be a highly trained individual to carry out these attacks. The essential requisite is WILL. If a kid is willing to blow himself up, then all he needs is explosives provided and the WILL to carry out the attack.

and with all the anti-Iraq resentment in Muslim communities, there are thousands of individuals.

yup.. and the longer we stay the more of these we create

I think the problem of terrorism is not an easy problem that can be solved by wars as some members said... War is a stupid way to deal with the current situation... It will result in more violence and it won’t stop the terror at all... Another guy mentioned that people should attack Mecca to force Muslims to stop... this is ridiculous. Do you think that this will frightened Muslims? No, this will let them fight even more… today; Muslims are divided into two groups: some of them disagree with what’s happening, others agree with it. But if you bomb Mecca, all Muslims will be against you and then a real world war will begin… THINK CAREFULLY b4 you speak
Another important point is that not only Americans and Europeans are suffering from those extreme Muslims (or let’s call them terrorists), Good Muslims are suffering as well, maybe more than you. If we take a look at the situation in Iraq, we will see that when one American soldier is killed, another 20 or 50 Iraqis are also killed…
I believe that terrorism is not an Islamic phenomenon only,,, it is a worldwide problem controlled by some crazy people and we have to find a logical solution to get rid of it..

If you want to put off any would be Islamic suicide bombers then tell them that when their remains are found they will be buried wrapped inside a pig carcass. That should do the trick.

Yeah, and to really **** with their heads, how about a national terrorist appreciation day? Take them out to lunch at their favorite place and buy them all a pork roll sandwich..😉

Originally posted by vaya_the_elf
Is their a news link for this?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/16/world/main709552.shtml