Death Toll In Istanbul Bombings Rises To 17

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his weekly cabinet meeting to travel to Turkey`s largest city to visit the site of the blasts.

The death toll in two bomb blasts in Istanbul rose to 17 on Monday in an attack that increased tension hours before a top court was to begin deliberating on whether to ban the governing party.

State news agency Anatolian, citing officials, said the toll rose after one person died from wounds sustained in the Sunday evening blasts in a working class neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul.

More than 150 people were wounded in the attacks which officials said left 115 people being treated in hospital, including seven in a serious condition.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his weekly cabinet meeting to travel to Turkey's largest city to visit the site of the blasts in Gungoren, a government official told Reuters.

"The attacks which were staged in a crowded street at a busy hour and without discriminating between men and women, young, old and children, showed once again the gory face, ruthlessness and despair of terrorism," armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said in a statement.

"I believe that those who carried out this inhuman bombing will be arrested and brought to justice," he said.

The site was still cordoned off early on Monday and police were not allowing people into the area other than shop owners.

"We know the killers," Sabah newspaper said in a headline above a picture of bodies strewn across a busy pedestrian area where two bombs, minutes apart, had torn through the crowds.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the deadliest in Turkey since 2003. Newspapers said three people had been detained in connection with the bombings.

Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamist militants have all carried out bombings in Istanbul in the past.

Several newspapers said police were focusing their investigations this time on the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), saying it has used similar explosives.

Opposition leader Deniz Baykal said, according to NTV broadcaster, that police suspected the PKK were responsible.

UNCERTAINTY

The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, has waged a deadly campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey since 1984. The PKK usually does not target civilians.

Officials said an initial loud blast on Sunday evening brought people into the streets and a larger bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded 10 minutes later and 50 metres away in the Gungoren district, near Istanbul's main international airport, where families gather in the evenings to dine and stroll.

Turkish financial markets weakened slightly on the news as well on concerns over the court case against the AK Party.

Turkey, which is seeking European Union membership, has been plunged into political and economic uncertainty by a court case over banning the ruling party.

The Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, began deliberating on Monday on whether the AK Party has engaged in Islamist activities and should be closed. The party denies the charges. A ruling is expected in early August.

The court case is linked to a long-running power struggle between Turkey's secularist establishment and the Islamist-rooted AK Party, which are at odds over the direction of the officially secular but predominantly Muslim country.

Tensions have also risen in recent weeks over a widening police investigation into a suspected ultra-nationalist group accused of seeking to overthrow the government.

Two senior retired generals have also been arrested in the probe, which has rattled Turkey.

The Istanbul attacks came hours after Turkish fighter jets bombed suspected PKK targets across the border in northern Iraq, used by guerrillas as a base from which to carry out strikes on Turkish territory.