Two Turkish soldiers were killed last night by simultaneous roadside bombs that rocked two hotels in a tourist area of Istanbul.
The blasts, triggered by remote control, injured at least seven other people, including a Turkish non-commissioned officer, and were described by police as ”terrorist attacks”.
Turkish television showed emergency services personnel carrying casualties, mostly foreigners, to ambulances at the scene, where glass and debris was scattered on the street, Reuters reported.
Local reports blamed Kurdish rebels. The city has been on high alert after a series of terrorist attacks linked to al-Qaeda.
The blasts in the tourist district of Sultanahmet, the historical heart of Turkey’s biggest city and financial capital, came at around 2am local time. They appeared to target small, economy hotels; one had 37 guests staying.
An hour later, on the edges of the city, two other bombs exploded at a gas storage complex, Reuters said.
Local reports said the hotel attacks were of the type that Kurdish rebels have mounted in the past. The rebels have been fighting for autonomy in the south-east since 1984. Turkey is home to an estimated 12-million Kurds.
Monday night’s attack came amid intensified fighting in the region since the Kurdish rebels declared an end to a five-year unilateral ceasefire on June 1, saying Turkey was not upholding it.
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest blasts, but Kurdish militants, far leftists and radical Islamist groups have all carried out bomb attacks in the city in the past.
Last November more than 60 people were killed in four suicide bomb attacks by al-Qaida linked groups which attacked the British consulate, the HSBC bank headquarters and Jewish targets in Istanbul. The top UK diplomat in the city, Consul-General Roger Short, was among the dead.
In June, four people were killed and 15 wounded in an explosion on a bus in Istanbul, shortly before the US president, George Bush, arrived in the city for a Nato summit. – Guardian Unlimited Â