Three killed as bomb blasts rock Turkey ahead of NATO summit

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

ISTANBUL (AFP) — Three people were killed as Turkey was rocked by two bomb blasts just days before US President George W. Bush and other world leaders descend on Istanbul for a NATO summit.

A powerful bomb ripped through a public bus in Istanbul, killing three and injuring at least seven, only hours after a small bomb exploded outside a hotel in the capital Ankara where Bush is expected to stay on Saturday.

The attacks occurred despite a massive security operation laid on by Turkish authorities for the US leader's visit and the two-day NATO meeting which opens on Monday.

Turkish television showed rescuers helping bloodied victims after the attack on a public bus near a hospital in the European part of Istanbul, a sprawling metropolis hit by a wave of...