1 dead in Turkey explosion in Mediterranean town

ANKARA, Turkey — One person died in an explosion in a Mediterranean town on Friday, Turkish authorities said, while a news agency reported the victim was a suicide bomber and the blast was outside a paramilitary police station.

The blast near the southern town of Kemer in Antalya province also injured two people, according to Deputy Gov. Recep Yuksel. He said the explosion wasn’t in a tourist area.

Dogan news agency, without citing sources, said the attack occurred in front of the paramilitary installation in Goynuk district of Kemer. An agency photograph showed torn clothing and other debris scattered on the asphalt after the blast. Authorities were not available for comment.

The blast occurred 10 days after a car bombing near a school in the capital, Ankara, killed three people and wounded 34 others. A Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, which claimed responsibility for the car bombing had threatened more attacks in retaliation to what it called the government’s “war” against the rebels.

The same group had also claimed a small bombing in Kemer on Aug. 28 that wounded 10 people, including four Swedes. A suicide bombing, also claimed by the Falcons, had left 32 people wounded in Istanbul in November 2010.

Kurdish rebels have dramatically stepped up attacks in Turkey.

The rebels intensified their attacks on Turkish targets in mid-July, accusing the government of not responding to their demands, including autonomy and education in the Kurdish language — which Turkey fears could divide the country along ethnic lines.

In a nationwide crackdown on alleged Kurdish rebel sympathizers, police have detained hundreds of supporters of a pro-Kurdish party as Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel bases in neighboring northern Iraq.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.