Bomb Aboard Turkish Minibus Injures 21

ANKARA, Turkey – A bomb blast blew apart a minibus in a Turkish tourist resort late Sunday injuring 21 people including 10 British tourists, the local police chief said.

The explosion was in the popular Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris. There were two other bomb blasts at the same time in garbage cans on the main boulevard in Marmaris, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported. The area is lined with bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants. There were no reports of injuries in those blasts.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Kurdish guerrillas have in the past carried out such attacks against tourist resorts.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that 10 Britons were injured in the explosions, according to a report from the British news agency Press Association.

Police chief Emin Korpe of Mugla province, where Marmaris is located, said 21 people were injured in the blast, including 10 British tourists and 11 Turks, the private Dogan news agency reported. Korpe said one of the injured was in serious condition, but gave no further details.

None of the injured had life-threatening injuries, Anatolia reported. Gov. Temel Kocaklar of Mugla said nine of the injured were released from hospital following treatment, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Dogan quoted local Governor Cemalettin Ozdemir as saying that the bomb was placed under a seat in the bus.

"We will capture the culprits and bring them before the public as soon as possible," Kocaklar said.

The Mediterranean coast is extremely popular with millions of European tourists who flock to Turkey during the summer months.

Police immediately boosted security in the area and set up roadblocks outside of the city.

Earlier Sunday, a bomb blast in a low-income neighborhood of Istanbul injured six people, police said.

The explosion in the Bagcilar district occurred near the local governor's office and police said they suspected that Kurdish militants were behind the explosion. One of the injured was reported to be in critical condition.

In 2005, Kurdish guerrillas bombed a minibus in the Aegean resort town of Kusadasi killing five people and injuring 13 others. The dead included a British woman and an Irish teenager.