Bomb attack derails train in east Turkey

A bomb derailed a train in eastern Turkey yesterday, but no one was injured, the third attack on a train in the troubled region this month, officials said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility and officials named any suspects. Kurdish separatist groups have said they were behind the two other attacks.

Five wagons in the train, which was also carrying passengers and freight, came off the tracks after a bomb planted earlier was detonated by remote control, security sources said.

The train was travelling between the eastern towns of Elazig and Mus, and the attack occurred in the same stretch where a bomb hit a train on July 2, killing six security guards.

A second attack on a train occurred five days later, but no one was killed or wounded in that bombing.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and groups linked with it have stepped up attacks on military and strategic targets in recent weeks and have also bombed tourist resorts in western Turkey, beyond their traditional sphere of attacks.

Five people died in the Aegean Sea town of Kusadasi on July 15, and Kurdish militants have threatened more such attacks.

The PKK has waged an armed campaign for an independent homeland in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, and more than 30,000 people have died in the fighting.

Violence has risen sharply since June 2004, when the PKK called off its six-year unilateral ceasefire, saying the Turkish state had not met its demands.