Weakened PKK steps up bombings in show of defiance

By Daren Butler - Analysis

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Weakened by Turkish warplane strikes in northern Iraq, separatist Kurdish guerrillas are stepping up bomb attacks in Turkey's cities in an attempt to show they are still a force to be reckoned with.

Analysts said two car bomb attacks in the Turkish coastal cities of Mersin and Izmir in the last three days bore the hallmarks of bombings earlier this year which officials have blamed on the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But the wave of violence represents a campaign by the group to grab headlines rather than a serious security threat to Turkey, a NATO-member country which aspires to join the European Union, they said.

"The PKK has lost many of its bases in Iraq, and in the countryside of southeast Turkey they can't move so easily. Hence to protect their existence they are turning their attention more to urban attacks," said Ercan Citlioglu, who heads the Strategic Research Centre at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University.

The attacks, including one on Thursday which wounded eight police officers and three soldiers when a car bomb ripped through a minibus in the western city of Izmir, are likely to reinforce the government's determination to destroy the group's military capability in northern Iraq.

The country's powerful armed forces have conducted regular air strikes on rebel targets in the mountains of northern Iraq since launching a major incursion across the border in February, dealing a severe blow to the rebels.

President Abdullah Gul on Thursday was to chair a bi-monthly National Security Council meeting, and violence blamed on the PKK was expected to be high on the agenda.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks. One senior military source said the group was employing leftist militants in its operations, while media cited police intelligence warning of further PKK car bomb attacks.

SCHOOL BLAST

The PKK's use of such bombs was highlighted in January when six people were killed in a blast outside a school in Diyarbakir, the largest city in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

Experts believe the bombers are being trained in Iraq, the scene of extensive insurgent violence.

"I think these attacks are inspired by events in Iraq and I think they were trained there," Citlioglu said.

As part of a campaign to erode support for the rebels, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has unveiled plans to increase investment in the southeast and in Kurdish-language broadcasting.

The explosives used in Tuesday's attack in Mersin, carried out by a suspected suicide bomber who killed himself and wounded nine police officers, were the same as those used in a double bombing in Istanbul last month, media reports said.

Eight people are being held in connection with that attack, which the government says was the work of the PKK.