TURKEY: UPDATE - DEADLY BLAST HITS KURDISH EASTERN REGION

Istanbul, 9 March (AKI) - The death toll in an apparent suicide bomb attack on Thursday in eastern Turkey has risen to three while 18 have been reported injured - three in a critical condition. One of the dead has been identified according to police in the mostly Kurdish region of Van where the blast occurred. The explosion occurred at 9:00am local time (0700 GMT) in front of Sempas Market, some 500 metres away from the governor's office, in Besyol district of the eastern Van province which borders Iran.

Turkey has witnessed a wave of attacks since the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.

The PKK took up arms against the government in 1984, struggling for a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. During years of violence, some 30,000 people have been killed.