Turkey Hit By Terrorists

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Blasts Hit Two Turkey Hotels, Gas Plant

2 hours, 44 minutes ago

By JAMES C. HELICKE, Associated Press Writer

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Explosions rocked two small tourist hotels and a gas plant in Istanbul early Tuesday in apparent terrorist strikes, killing at two people and injuring seven others, police said.

The blasts came amid heightened security concerns in Turkey, the focus of earlier terror attacks including four suicide truck bombings in November blamed on al-Qaida that killed more than 60 people in Istanbul.

Assailants entered the liquefied petroleum gas plant, where cooking gas canisters are filled, after cutting the barbed wire, said Tayfun Demiroren, an official at the plant.

Two bombs were placed under storage tanks, Demiroren said. The explosions took place a half hour apart and shortly after an anonymous bomb threat, police said. There were no casualties at the plant, located outside Baghdad.

A gas leak at the plant was under control, Demiroren said.

Two earlier explosions rocked inexpensive hotels at around 2 a.m. local time, police said.

Workers at one of the Pars hotel in the Laleli district, home to inexpensive hotels and clothing stores catering to Eastern European tourists, said they received an anonymous call warning of a bomb in a room 10 minutes before the explosion, the Anatolia news agency reported.