7:06am UK, Monday July 28, 2008

The death toll from two bomb blasts in a packed Istanbul square has risen to 16.

Forensic officers at the scene of the bomb blasts in Istanbul

More than 150 others were wounded in the deadliest attack against civilians in Turkey in almost five years.

The city’s governor called it a “terror attack” but officials did not blame any specific group and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

CNN-Turk television, citing security sources, said police suspect Kurdish rebels may be behind it because intelligence reports had suggested the rebels were planning a bombing campaign in Turkish cities.

“There is no doubt that this is a terror attack,” Governor Muammer Guler said.

The first bomb went off in the residential neighbourhood of Gungoren in a busy square closed to traffic where people gather at night, witnesses said.

A number of people had rushed over to see what happened and help the victims when a second, more powerful blast hit close by about 10 minutes after the first.

Many of the casualties were from the second explosion, witnesses said.

His office said 154 people were injured. Of those, 15 were in critical condition, a government official at the scene said.

The attack was the country’s worst since November 20, 2003 when al Qaeda-linked suicide bombings struck the British consulate and a British bank, killing at least 30 people.

Five days earlier, suicide truck bombs attacked two Istanbul synagogues, killing 27.

Kurdish rebels belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984.

The violence has killed tens of thousands of people since then.