A powerful bomb blast destroyed a minibus in a Turkish seaside resort on Saturday, killing five people, among them an Irish and a British tourist and wounding 13, officials said. Police were investigating whether a suicide bomber or a parcel bomb caused the blast in the center of the Aegean town of Kusadasi, just a week after a bomb attack claimed by Kurdish separatists wounded some 20 people in a nearby resort.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the blast at Kusadasi, which is popular particularly with British tourists, as a "terrorist attack" without putting the blame on a specific group.
Ali Baris, a top government official in Kusadasi, who initially spoke of the possibility of a young female suicide bomber, said later in the day that the suicide bombing theory had weakened.
After all people killed and wounded in the blast were identified, "there is no reasonable indication to suggest a suicide bombing," Baris told AFP.
"But the investigation is continuing and experts have reached no definite conclusion yet," he said.
An Irish woman identified by Turkey as 17-year-old Tana Whalen and three Turkish nationals were killed on the spot. An injured British woman died in hospital, Baris said.
Five other Britons were hurt, including three who were in serious condition, the Foreign Office in London said.
The explosives used in the incident, which came at the height of the summer holiday season, were of "quite a powerful type," Nurdogan Kaya, the deputy governor of Aydin province, where Kusadasi is located, told reporters.
It was not clear how they were placed in the minibus, he said, quoted by Anatolia news agency.
The blast ripped through the minibus at around 10:30 am (0730 GMT) as it was arriving at its final stop in the town's center. It was shuttling between downtown Kusadasi and a nearby beach.
The explosion blew the top off the white vehicle, scattering bits of metal and glass several meters (yards) away.
British and Irish officials also denounced the blast.
"We condemn this repugnant act, which has ruined the lives of so many innocent people," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
His Irish counterpart Dermot Ahern said: "There can be no justification whatsoever for this atrocity."
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