Kurdish rebel arrested over bombing

An accused Kurdish rebel suspected of detonating a deadly car bomb last week in Turkey's southeast has been captured, an official said Tuesday. Six other suspects also were detained.

Six people were killed in the Jan. 3 bombing in Diyarbakir, authorities said. The attack apparently targeted a bus transporting Turkish army officers but killed five students and the father of another student. Sixty-seven people were wounded, including more than 30 soldiers, authorities said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the man was suspected of buying the car loaded with bombs. He said the previous owner of the vehicle identified him.

A local official said the suspect, detained Monday, also is accused of detonating the bomb by remote control. Six others also were detained, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police did not identify the suspect but the Anatolia news agency, citing police sources, said he reportedly trained at rebel camps in northern Iraq.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Jan.3 attack but Turkish officials quickly blamed separatist Kurdish rebels. Four people detained for suspected links to the attack were released Sunday after questioning.

The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, said some of its militants — acting on their own — may have been behind the attack, the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency said Monday on its Web site.

The PKK has waged a guerrilla war for Kurdish self-rule since 1984 and in the past has set off bombs in large cities.

The blast followed a spate of cross-border Turkish military operations into neighboring Iraq, where the rebels are based, and occurred days before President Abdullah Gul's talks Tuesday in Washington with President Bush.