PKK extends ceasefire, disavows Istanbul bomb

Turkey’s main Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, has announced it is extending a truce until after elections due next June at least. The group denied responsibility for Sunday's suicide attack in Istanbul although some pro-government sources accuse breakaway factions of being behind it.

Reuters

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which fights for independence for Kurdistan, said the truce first announced on 13 August, will continue.

"Our movement [...] has decided to extend the non-action process until the 2011 general elections in order to impose a democratic solution process and ensure that the parliamentary elections in Turkey take place in a healthy environment," said the statement carried by the Firat news agency, which is closely linked to the PKK.

Firat also reported the PKK leadership had denied responsibility for the blast in Istanbul's landmark Taksim Square on Sunday which wounded 32 people.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay said investigators had obtained clues on the bombing, but more time was needed to make a definite conclusion.

An anonymous security official told the Radikal daily that investigators suspect a breakaway faction of the PKK or out-of-control elements opposed to the ceasefire.

The country’s next general elections have not been formally scheduled, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the first week of June has been earmarked.