British Tourists Wounded in Turkey as Three Killed in Second Terror Attack

by Christina 123 | July 27, 2008 at 03:15 pm

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In the series of bomb explosions that have hit Turkey in the last 24 hours, two further blasts were in Marmaris, the most popular destination for British holiday makers in Turkey. Ten Britons were injured when their minibus blew up.

Holiday makers have been warn to stay away from the country.

British holidaymakers have given the TIMES eyewitness reports of the explosions:

There were two further blasts in Marmaris, one of the most popular destinations for British visitors. Another attack injured six people in a suburb of Istanbul.

The bombing campaign is aimed at destabilising Turkey and damaging its economy, and is not targeted directly at British or Western interests. There have been twenty bomb attacks in Turkey this year, eight of which have occurred during August, the peak month for the millions of Britons who visit the country every year.

Legislation proscribing TAK — a splinter from the outlawed PKK, or Kurdish Workers’ Party — as a terrorist organisation came into force in Britain two weeks ago.

In Marmaris, where eight of the injured Britons were still being treated in hospital last night, tourists spoke of the frightening scenes when the minibus blew up.

A couple from Coventry have been discharged from hospital and two other Britons, a 73-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl, underwent surgery for burns. Suzanne Poyraz, the foreign operations manager at Caria Hospitals, said: “Everyone is OK now but this was a really bad shock for people here.”

Rob Laughton, 41, from Chiswick, West London, was having dinner at a restaurant in the middle of Marmaris with his wife, Susan, and friends. “We were just sat there and heard this almighty explosion,” he said.

The group ran out of the restaurant. “We just saw the bus and bodies lying on the ground. We thought, ‘We just don’t want to be here.’ We just ran away.”

Jill Thornton, of Consett, Co Durham, said that her son Daniel, 19, was in Turkey with his girlfriend and her parents, and had seen the aftermath of the bus explosion. Daniel, who was walking with his girlfriend, Laura Stalker, 17, said that he was met by a shocking scene. Mrs Thornton said: “He is only 19 and his girlfriend is only 17. I am panicking. His girlfriend was very upset.”

In the Ahu Hetman hospital, Suzanna Beckford, from Birmingham, received treatment with her grandchildren, Alex and Louis. She said: “Why have they done this to us? We have done nothing. Who are these people?” TIMESONLINE