15 hurt in grenade attack on cafe in Turkey

At least 15 people were injured this evening when unknown assailants threw two grenades into a cafe in Izmir, Turkey's third …

At least 15 people were injured this evening when unknown assailants threw two grenades into a cafe in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, hospital sources and police said.

The injured were rushed to three hospitals, where sources said a total of 15 people had been admitted suffering injuries from the blast. A police official said he could confirm seven people had been injured. There were no reports of deaths.

"Two grenades were thrown into the cafe and exploded, but the attack has no political links," Izmir police chief Huseyin Capkin told reporters. He did not give details.

The explosion comes a day after the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began a unilateral ceasefire in its 22-year conflict with the Turkish state.

READ MORE

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.

Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said earlier that only warring states could declare a ceasefire and that the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, Europe and Turkey, should unconditionally lay down its arms and deliver itself to Turkish justice.

Far-left and Islamist groups have also carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.