Turkish ministers escape possible bomb attack

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish ministers traveling to a groundbreaking ceremony in the country's southeast on May 4 escaped a possible bomb attack, Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Toprak said.

Ministers Mehdi Eker, Cevdet Yılmaz, Mehmet Şimşek and Veysel Eroğlu were in the Silvan district of the southeastern Diyarbakır province on May 4 for the groundbreaking of the Silvan Dam.

Toprak said security forces found 20 kilograms of high-power aluminum-nitrate explosives placed on a road that would be used by ministers going to the dam construction site. Toprak said the explosives were found after they gathered intelligence indicating that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was planning to stage an attack targeting the ministers. "The attack, if successful, would also have derailed the dam construction project," Toprak said.

The PKK's attempts at assassinating the ministers were in vain, as they were ultimately taken to the construction site in helicopters, Toprak said, adding that bomb squads destroyed the explosives on May 5, Hurriyet Daily News reported.