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| The Grand Turk |
| Ethnic clashes in Turkey after attack on police |
| 2010-07-28 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Turkish officials on Tuesday blamed separatist Kurdish rebels for an attack that killed four police as ethnic tensions boiled over for a second day, the Anatolia news agency reported. Turkish police fired tear gas to break up scuffles between Turkish and Kurdish protesters in the town of Dortyol in the southern province of Hatay, a day after four policemen were shot dead, the agency said. The Hatay governor's office said in a written statement that the attack was the work of the "terrorist organization", a euphemism used by officials to describe the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 26-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast. In a separate incident Tuesday, four soldiers were wounded in a remote-controlled bomb explosion targeting a military vehicle in the neighboring province of Osmaniye, Anatolia said. On Monday evening gunmen in a van shot four Turkish police officers, opening fire on their vehicle in the town of Dortyol in the southern province of Hatay. While the identity of the gunmen was unclear, local suspicions appeared to be directed at Kurdish militants -- the shooting triggered clashes between Turks and Kurds. State-run Anatolian news agency said some of the protesters chanted slogans in Kurdish in support of the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group, which has recently stepped up attacks against security forces. Turkish protesters subsequently attacked and set fire to the local offices of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy party (BDP) and Kurdish workplaces in Dortyol, broadcaster NTV reported. The protesters also attacked shops owned by Kurds, breaking windows and furniture. Upon reports that police were questioning three people, dozens of Turkish protesters gathered in front of the police headquarters in Dortyol, demanding that the men be handed over to them, the NTV news channel reported. |
| Posted by:Fred |