TURKEY: Bomb attack on Istanbul police bus injures at least 15

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At least 15 people were injured when a roadside bomb targeting a police shuttle bus detonated in Istanbul’s Kucukcekmece district Tuesday morning, Turkish news reports said.

According to the semi-official Turkish news agency Anatolia a remote-controlled bomb exploded as the police minivan carrying officers to work was passing by during the morning rush hour.

The injured are said to include police officers and civilian passers-by. Anatolia said two civilians were treated in a nearby hospital for minor injuries, and some police officials assert that 15 of their officers were injured in the blast.

Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin told Anatolia, however, that no one had been seriously injured and that police were investigating.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Kurdish rebels who have launched similar attacks on Turkish police in previous years have stepped up their activities, Agence France-Presse reported.

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said last week that he had given up on the idea of seeking dialogue with Turkey.

‘There is no information on the culprits for now. We will work to find them,’ Capkin said.

Tuesday’s attack comes as Istanbul is hosting a regional high-level summit on international security. Among the attendees are Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Kucukcekmece is a suburb of Istanbul on the western edge of the European side of the Bosporus strait.

-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut