Suspected suicide bombing kills 4 in Turkey

[Ebusitanus]

Good news for the Western Mediterranean Tourism industry.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...-EXPLOSION.xml

By Gulseren Nalbantoglu
IZMIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A suicide bomber is believed to have triggered a blast which ripped through a minibus in a western Turkish resort on Saturday, killing four people and injuring 14, officials and news reports said.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
Television footage of the scene showed the top of the minibus had been blown off by the force of the blast, which occurred around 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) as the vehicle travelled past a square in the town of Kusadasi on the way to a beach, local officials said.
Kusadasi, some 70 km (45 miles) from the port city of Izmir, is popular with Turkish and foreign tourists, and officials said foreign nationals may have been on the bus.
The NTV news channel said authorities believed a female suicide bomber was killed in the attack and police suspected plastic explosives were used.
"There is no clear information at the moment but we are considering all possibilities," local administrator Ali Baris told Reuters when asked whether a suicide bomber had caused the explosion.
Four people were killed and 14 were injured in the blast, Baris said.
Kurdish rebels, Islamist radicals and leftist militants have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
A Kurdish rebel group calling itself the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in the nearby resort of Cesme on July 10 in which 20 people were injured, including two foreign tourists.
TAK is a militant wing of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, and more than 30,000 people, mainly Kurds, have been killed in the conflict.
TAK also said it was behind a bombing in Kusadasi in April in which one police officer was killed. It has recently threatened to step up attacks on urban and tourism centres.
More than 60 people were killed in Istanbul in November 2003 in four suicide bombings which hit two synagogues, the British consulate and the local headquarters of London-based HSBC bank.
A local cell in the al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for that blast, and a trial of dozens of suspects is ongoing.

[Rusalka]

Originally Posted by Ebusitanus

Good news for the Western Mediterranean Tourism industry.

I think there should be a line between being a patriot and a nationalistic and being a bastard. It's one thing to support one's own country's advancement in tourism but quite another thing to consider a suicide bombing killing off people -possibly foreigners amongst them- a favorable thing.

[Ebusitanus]

Well..where is the sarcasm thingy when you need it? Of course I take no joy in the death of anybody..darn!

Having said this..It is true, as sad as it might be, that the Western Mediterranean, where prices are higher due to a higher living standard, that its hard to compete with cheap destinations such as Turkey, Egypt, Tunnis, etc...Local disasters, such as the recent Tsunami, bombs going off, highjackings, etc...DOES have a great impact upon the western tourist when choosing a destination. Thats why ETA has been seting bombs on the touristic coastal areas as well...damage the economy.

That does not mean that Western European destinations are high-fiving each time something like this happens..but its true..it helps..and it helps our economy and that is a fact, as sad as it might be.