Military

DATE=7/2/05

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=TURKEY / BLAST UPDATE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-325676

BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN

DATELINE=ISTANBUL

/// UPDATING CR 2-325675 TO CHANGE DEATH TOLL IN INTRO ///

HEADLINE: Turkey Blames Kurdish Rebels for Train Attacks

INTRO: Violence is escalating in the predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey. Government officials say six people were killed Saturday when suspected guerrillas from the group known as the PKK detonated bombs that derailed two trains. From Istanbul, Amberin Zaman reports for VOA.

TEXT: In addition to those killed, at least 20 people were injured in the attack that took place in the southeastern province of Bingol. Turkey's interior minister, Abdul Kadir Aksu, accused PKK rebels of setting off a bomb that derailed seven railway cars of a passenger train. Soon after that attack, guerrillas triggered another explosive that derailed a second train that was rushing to aid the wounded. It is not clear if there were any casualties in this attack. A third bomb was defused by security forces. Minister Aksu said Turkish forces were continuing to comb the area in search of the rebels.

The rebels are accused of carrying out another attack Saturday. Three police officers in the southeastern town of Kulp, near the city of Diyarbakir, were wounded as they were about to inspect a package left in the street. Like the attacks on the railway cars, the package bomb is believed to have been triggered by a remote control device.

Saturday's incidents are the latest in a string of attacks the Turkish government is blaming on the PKK. The group ended a unilateral ceasefire a year ago because of what it termed the Turkish government's failure to negotiate a lasting peace.

Nearly 40 thousand people have died since the PKK launched its armed

campaign for Kurdish independence in 1984.

Sources close to the rebels say the attacks are intended to pressure the

Turkish government into issuing an amnesty for all PKK members, including their

leaders, most of whom are based in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Turkey

refuses to negotiate with the guerrillas saying it will not talk to "terrorists."

Turkey has been stepping up pressure on the United States to take military

action against some three to five thousand PKK rebels based in Iraq.

Washington says it cannot open a second front against the group while its

forces are stretched in a battle against Iraqi insurgents. (Signed)

NEB/AZ/KL