ANKARA — Kurdish insurgents have focused a series of attacks on
Turkey's huge railroad system.
Officials said the Kurdish Workers Party has bombed several trains or
rail lines in Turkey over the last two months as part of the war against
Ankara. They said the attacks were focused in southern and eastern Turkey,
which contains a large Kurdish majority.
On Sunday, a suspected PKK bombing destroyed eight cars of a cargo
train in the eastern province of Mus. The semi-official Anatolian news
agency said the bomb was placed on a railroad track and exploded as the
train passed, Middle East Newsline reported.
Anatolian reported that the explosion caused 12 cars to overturn.
The blast also destroyed 20 meters of track.
This was the second bombing of a freight train in Mus in as many months and the third bombing in Turkey in less than a week. The other
explosions were reported in Istanbul and Van. The PKK did not claim
responsibility for those attacks.
The European Union has been pressing Ankara to provide greater rights to
the Turkish minority. On Sunday, EU sources were quoted by Turkey's
Cumhuriyet newspaper as criticizing the military for its refusal to support
minority rights. Cumhuriyet said the criticism would be included in an EU
report scheduled for release later this year.
